TEMA: Generation Jesus
The typing dead haunts social media
All humans will someday die. But what happens then to our digital persona, our digital twin. Will it end up in a digitalized graveyard, or is it going to haunt our relatives in a digital afterlife?
“I feel like it's like the Wild West. We are being held as hostages, kind of,” says Mille Kalsmose.
Offentliggjort
Imagine lying in bed, doomscrolling on social media. Suddenly you see a comment from your deceased grandma on a controversial post. Who is responsible for preventing such horrible incidents. Mille Kalsmose thinks it’s a very important but scary topic to think about.
“I have friends around me that has died and It's weird when they still have an account on social media,” says Mille.
If there's a will there's a way
Peter Grønlund Holm, consumer policy advisor at The Danish consumer council, explains that personal data doesn’t lose the need for protection when a person dies, but the question is who then owns and controls it.
“So the phenomenon creates a lot of issues when looking at it legally”, Peter says.
But can you prevent it from happening? Peter explains that you can either hire certain services that can access your account and shut it or write it into the actual will of a person. Still, he thinks it’s a pressing matter and the rules are very unclear right now.
“It definitely leaves room for improvement,” Peter concludes.
This story is for an international audience, for example reading BBC Future.
