Are your social media accounts prepared for an afterlife?

There will come a day when your labour will settle in the dust and oblivion would stare you in the eye. While I’m not sure about the rest but your digital legacy will definitely be left behind for the world to see. Have you ever given this a thought? What will happen to your larger-than-life social media profiles once you die? Accounts that buzz more than your real life sometimes?

Don’t worry if you haven’t spared a thought to this because even the cyber legal frameworks have not yet elaborated upon the principles of digital legacy in the context of social media. These legal issues are likely to be surrounded by sincere lack of clarity.

How important is it to plan an afterlife for your social media?

Today, social media represents a manifestation of our personality and reflection of our digital selves. They are huge repositories of sensitive data and hence it is important for us to make plans for our social media accounts not only within our life time but also beyond.

Considering that we are all mortal, lot of people are increasingly coming up with new mechanisms to keep their social media accounts active after they are dead and gone. Consequently, we have also begun to see the emergence of numerous companies which are offering to maintain your social media accounts after your death on payment or consideration.

“Lot of people believe that their social media account represents their digital avatar and the same must be kept alive after their death. No wonder, people have begun to start coming up with digital wills, where they bequeath their social media accounts to beneficiaries with the caveat that the beneficiaries look after and maintain the said social media accounts for and on behalf of the concerned person after his/her death,” Dr. Pavan Duggal, Advocate, Supreme Court of India said.

He said that social media accounts are like one’s digital assets and there should be a plan for bequeathing the same after your death, especially through digital will.

Legacy contact

In 2015, Facebook introduced a policy to implement ‘legacy contact‘ in order to alleviate the difficulties of legal heirs of the deceased. This contact is someone you choose to look after your social media once you’re dead. They can pin a post on the timeline, change profile pictures and even archives the photos and posts. However, this contact cannot log in to your account or read any private messages.

Now several social media companies are allowing their account holders to nominate a legacy contact, who can  archive their photographs or even request for deactivation or memorization.

“Though, some elements of protecting privacy of deceased person has been retained by social media companies in terms of prohibiting legacy contact from accessing private messages, yet the said legacy contact can access number of archived photographs and ensure that digital legacy of the deceased person is continued,” Duggal asserted.

However, he continued, “From a legal standpoint, cyber legal frameworks have not started elaborating principles of digital legacy and digital bequeathment in the context of social media. Till such time, cyber legal frameworks do not deal with such legal issues, these legal issues are likely to be surrounded by lot of lack of clarity.”

Often people tend to give this legacy contact to peers rather than family. This can turn extremely dangerous if the relationship gets sour.

“I can always smell mischief around this concept. If the legacy contact is a friend, h/she may try to extort money or blackmail the family of the deceased. I think its very important to ensure that only your most trust aids get access to your social media, primary email addresses and phone passwords. But its equally important to share it with someone at least,” Ritesh Bhatia, Founder, Cybercrime & Forensics Investigator said.

Clearly, far more safeguards need to be incorporated, in order to further protect the privacy of digital legacy of the deceased account holders of the social media platforms.

How to ensure data protection after death?

Terming the current social media hangover a part of the Great Indian Vomiting Revolution, Duggal said it could lead to horrendous consequences from a security point.

In terms of cyber security, one should not be purely reliant on the social media service providers. You need to specifically read the terms and conditions and also their privacy policy to understand how the said platforms deal with your data. One cannot afford to be lazy or ignorant about this.

“As of now, the law is purely silent on the issue of protecting one’s social media account related sensitive data from misuse after one’s death. Hence, a person can specify various steps notice by means of their digital will as to how they wish to bequeath social media accounts and the data resident therein to concerned beneficiaries,” Duggal exclaimed.

It is imperative for everyone to categorically stipulate various limitations under which the said social media accounts can be accessed after the said person’s death and also specifically stipulate various steps and precautions that need to be taken so as to protect sensitive data of the deceased social media account holder from potential misuse.

Social media fraud, in the words of Bhatia, is like an insurance policy that stays with you, “zindagi k sath bhi, zindagi k baad bhi.” Hence, you must stay alert of what you’re sharing on your social media and keep your spouse, parents or siblings alert of your presence on these sites.

“If your account is left abandoned after death or even otherwise, fake accounts are generated very easily which can be mistaken for you. If you have a social media account, don’t leave it inactive for fraudsters to prey on. Once you die, the relatives should ideally deliver this news across all mediums to avoid cases of identity theft,” he advised.

Legal discourse in case of misuse

“The legal course of action that the family of the deceased person can take in the event of social media fraud, identity theft and hacking is that they can file for cybercrime complaint under the provisions of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 and under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 against unknown persons,” Duggal said.

Further, they can also request the service provider in its capacity as an intermediary to provide the identity details of the relevant persons who has engaged in such social media fraud, identity theft and hacking of the social media account of deceased person.