Online cemeteries: where do the accounts of deceased users of social networks go

The 2050s will be a turning point for the world community, says Stefan Koch, an IT researcher from Geneva. He is sure that by the middle of the century, the number of accounts whose owners have died will exceed the number of living users. Simple arithmetic: if in 2010 (according to UN mortality and fertility statistics) there were about 4 million "dead souls" in social networks, then in 2014 there were already 30 million. In the next four years, the figure for Facebook alone grew to 50 million dead accounts. Shock.

Let's figure out what happens to a page whose owner will never go online again?

Facebook

This corporation was the first in the world to think about what to do with the rapidly growing cemetery of accounts. In 2009, the social network launched the so—called memorization of the account - it will not work to add a dead account to friends, but the profile photo can be placed in a mourning frame, and a commemorative (memorial) inscription can be left on the wall. At first, relatives or friends of the deceased had to provide the moderators of the social network with a digital copy of the death certificate. Later, users during their lifetime could appoint a "keeper" of the page.

To date, memorization proceeds as follows: next to the account of the deceased (after the moderators become aware that the person has died), a Remember marker appears, and the profile itself disappears from the field of view of friends — reminders of birthdays and memorable dates cease to appear. In addition, the account is no longer displayed in the "you may know them" lists. The one who "inherited" the account (friend or relative) can change the profile photo, but not add new friends. It will also not work to correspond on behalf of the former owner.

VKontakte

The main Russian social network acts similarly to the "big brother". You can't add a dead account to friends, and the heirs won't be able to leave a new entry on his wall or comment on behalf of the "inheritance". Actually, the account will be switched to the "friends only" visibility mode after someone from the deceased's family contacts the technical support service and provides a death certificate.

Instagram and Twitter

Accounts are deleted after application moderators receive a death certificate of a person or a link to an obituary. The function of profile inheritance is not provided here. However, the Instagram tech support can establish a "memorable status" for a while by agreement with the one who represents the interests of the deceased.

Odnoklassniki

Since 2013, an account in Odnoklassniki can be deleted by an heir who has provided technical support with documents confirming the right to inherit property. That is, it can only be a close relative and, in accordance with Russian law, after six months. At least, that's what they say in the press service of the social network. But practice shows that for the complete liquidation of the account in Odnoklassniki, a court decision will be required (attention). Representatives of the social network explain this by the presence of many fake accounts, which moderators cannot delete at someone's request.

Livejournal

LJ offers the heirs several options: the profile of a deceased person can either be closed or left: in read-only mode, or in a mode with a comment function (records of the deceased, and not on his behalf).

Google

Google gives the user the opportunity to take care of their account in advance: choose an heir or schedule a lock on a specified date. You can do this through Google Inactive Manager — the service independently checks activity in profiles at time intervals. If there is no activity, then either the rights are transferred to the heir, or the account is blocked.