The assets we accumulate throughout life are no longer just financial, but increasingly digital, from treasured photographs in a social media account to ownership of profiles on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. In the past, these memories used to be stored as physical objects: photo albums, postcards, contracts and ownership certificates. That meant that when we died, they were accessible to our loved ones. In the Internet age, much of that information is stored in the cloud. Everything from photos and videos to emails and documents are not easily accessible without legacy planning.
Whether you want your information destroyed, stored, or memorialized, many technology platforms already offer options for handling user data after death.
What happens after death? When someone passes away, their social media accounts just won’t go away unless the platform in question has been instructed by someone acting on behalf of the deceased person, such as friends or family. While it’s a morbid thought, taking stock of your digital life and planning for what will happen when you’re no longer here to log in is vital to ensuring your information can be cared for responsibly.
This is an issue that online platforms are becoming increasingly aware of, with many now allowing you to issue instructions on what should happen in the event of your death. Depending on the platform, both keeping and deleting your account are possible, but it requires forethought, and each platform has a different process.
Apple Legacy Contacts. In December 2021, Apple introduced Legacy Contacts, allowing you to choose one or more people you trust to access your account after you die. In this case, you generate and share an access key with your designated contact. Upon your death, your contact will need to request access, provide the key you shared, and upload their death certificate to access your Apple account. Upon approval, your legacy contact will have three years to view and make decisions about photos, messages, notes, files, apps, and other data.
Inactive Google Account Manager. You can also take proactive steps to protect your Google account data, whether it’s photos, documents, or even Google Pay. Google Inactive Account Manager allows you to make a post-port plan, outlining when Google should consider your account inactive. You can set the inactivity waiting period between three and 18 months. After the set time has elapsed, automated messages will be sent to designated mobile phone numbers and email addresses, informing them of the inactivity. You can choose up to 10 people to be notified by Google.
You can also tell Google to delete your inactive account and all of its content. The elimination takes place three months later.
Facebook and its commemorative accounts. Facebook also allows you to add a legacy contact who can manage your account after you’ve died. A legacy contact can view private posts, pin a tribute post, change your profile and cover photo, and request account deletion. However, the legacy contact will only be able to perform these activities after the account is committed. In a memorial account, the word “remembering” is placed next to your name, and friends and family can share memories on the page’s memorial timeline.
Facebook remembers accounts when a family member or close friend informs them of your death. You also have the option to permanently delete your account upon death.
Twitter. Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t seem to have a way to remember an account, nor the ability to provide the details of a legacy contact. Nor does it provide access to the account to anyone, regardless of their relationship to the decedent. However, an authorized person or family member of a deceased person can contact Twitter to have the account deactivated by providing more information about the deceased person.
Instagram. The millennial platform has memory and deletion features similar to Facebook. But it doesn’t offer the option to add a legacy contact. Instead, anyone can request that an account be memorialized by providing proof of death. Only verified immediate family members or legal representatives of the deceased may request account deletion.
LinkedIn. The professional social network it also does not currently provide a way to give the details of a legacy contact. It only offers the functionality to commemorate or close the account of a deceased member. Family members or authorized persons can only make requests to close an account. However, other LinkedIn members can report a deceased person, and after verification, the account is hidden from public view. Like Twitter, it also doesn’t reveal usernames and passwords to anyone, including family.
microsoft. To date, the company appears to have taken a hands-off approach when dealing with the accounts of deceased users. It offers no way to nominate a close relative for access to the account, which is inevitably closed after two years of inactivity.
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