Billions of people around the world use social media platforms. Therefore, the issue of what happens to a user's social media presence when they die is of great importance.

Social media accounts remain alive and active until a family member informs the relevant platform that the person has died.

Some social media platforms offer relatives the option to close the deceased's account when a user dies. Some platforms also offer other alternatives. For example, Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, either removes or freezes a user's account when a death certificate is received. With this method called "account memorialisation", relatives of the deceased can share memories and photos on the page. The profile is labelled "In memory of" next to the user's name. No one can manage the content of this account or request the removal of this profile unless the owner of the profile has given formal authorisation in the past.

On Facebook, memorialised accounts do not appear in the "People you may have known" tab and birthday reminders are not sent to accounts that were friends with the deceased. Google, the owner of YouTube, Gmail and Google Images, gives users the option to decide what happens if their account is inactive for a certain period of time. On X, or Twitter as it was formerly known, the deceased user's account is labelled as "memorial". as an account is not possible. The only option is to remove the account.

BBC World Service Technology Correspondent Joe Tidy says that access data is not shared and that some data, such as photos and videos, are only made available upon specific requests. In some cases this requires a court order. Sasa Zivanovic, who specialises in cybercrime and used to work in the Serbian Interior Ministry's unit for advanced technologies, warns that data, photos and other content of deceased people can fall into the wrong hands. Criminals can download the profile data of certain accounts or take over the entire account.

In fake accounts opened with the name of the deceased person, photos, data and videos are used to send messages to some relatives who are not aware of the death of that person. In some cases, those who open the fake account try to get money from relatives.

Norris points out that writing a digital legacy and social media legacy is critical: "Social media platforms are companies, after all, and they have no responsibility to guard your digital legacy.

"Do you want a loved one to take control of your social media accounts, or do you want to be remembered only through them? Would you rather leave your digital photos to your children in a digital album or print them out and leave them in an album? Digital legacy is something we need to think about and talk about." For Hayley and Matthew, however, this has not been an easy topic to talk about.