In our country, about 10 million Internet users die every year. What they left behind was not only family affection and memories, but also a huge and silent digital kingdom: WeChat and Alipay balances, game accounts, self-media accounts, digital collections, as well as chat records, cloud photo albums, etc.
As current digital technology is deeply integrated into everyone's life, the governance of digital heritage is becoming a cutting-edge issue that needs to be solved urgently.
On the eve of Tomb-Sweeping Day, some social platforms sparked heated discussions about “digital heritage planning.” Some people teach you how to set up Apple's "legacy contacts", some share the process of handling WeChat accounts, and some carefully make a "digital heritage list" – from WeChat change to game accounts, from network disk photos to self-media income.
"In the past, when we missed a person, we looked at his photos, letters, tombstones, etc. Now, a person's 'digital traces' may be more than physical objects." Tan Zuocai, a master's tutor at the Law School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a doctor of law, has continued to study the issue of digital inheritance inheritance in recent years. He introduced that WeChat chats, Moments, game accounts, online stores, and even electronic pets… these "digital traces" are closely related to people's lives, but they are likely to disappear quickly after the owner passes away. In fact, this is becoming a real dilemma faced by many families.
Post-2000s write digital inheritance into their wills
In order to repay his sister's care, Mr. Feng, a "post-00s generation", left all his salary savings to his sister in his will, and included his 7-year-old game account as a digital inheritance in the scope of distribution. This is one of the "Top Ten Typical Cases" of the China Will Library in 2025 released recently.
In recent years, among the types of assets included in wills made by young and middle-aged people, the “other” category has grown significantly—including collectibles, personal items, contractual rights, and virtual properties. With the development of the digital age, virtual property has become an important part of young people's property.
"If something unexpected happens, your family won't even know what accounts you have, let alone how to get them back." Tan Zuocai said that the universality of digital heritage issues has extended from abroad to China.
Last year, a hot search sparked heated discussions: Netizens posted that the WeChat account of their father, who had been dead for many years, suddenly disappeared. Although WeChat offered help afterwards, the account had been canceled and could not be retrieved. Some netizens were automatically logged into the account of the late singer Coco Lee when they used their new mobile phone numbers to register for music platform accounts. The platform customer service responded that the matter stemmed from "the operator's second release of the number", which resulted in the account being "inherited" by the new user, and was subsequently untied urgently.
These incidents have aroused public attention on the protection of digital heritage: When life ends, where will the WeChat, Alipay, game accounts, cloud disk photos and even social media footprints we leave behind?
Whose account does your account belong to?
"The account belongs to the platform, not the user" – this is the account ownership established by most platforms through user agreements. However, in Tan Zuocai's view, the content, income, and social relationships in the account are accumulated by the user's gradual operation. It is not appropriate for the platform to deny users' legal rights to the account through format clauses.
He gave an analogy: "It's like renting a house. Even if the house belongs to the landlord, the furniture, your memories, and your business can't be lost."
In his view, digital heritage cannot be defined solely by “money”. It can be divided into at least three categories: those with money (WeChat change, cryptocurrency, live broadcast room tipping income); those with affection (moments, photo albums, chat records, souvenirs in games); those with "social value" (a popular science account with hundreds of thousands of fans, a charity account).
Tan Zuocai said: "When a person is alive and protected by law, his family should also have a way to deal with it after his death, rather than the platform having the final say."
An all-media reporter from Hubei Daily found that at present, mainstream platforms have made it clear that account ownership belongs to the platform, and users only have the right to use it, and the right to use cannot be transferred, inherited, or donated. However, in specific operations, the platforms have different practices:
WeChat revised its rules last year to clarify that "the account can be kept and used unless you take the initiative to cancel it." If there are funds in WeChat, heirs can apply to withdraw the balance. QQ stipulates that if there is a legal heir, information can be submitted through official channels for inheritance; if there is no heir, the account will be recycled by the system if there is no login record within 15 days.
Station B launched the "Memorial Account" function. After the family provides proof, the account is frozen and no one can log in, but there will be an official condolence message on the homepage. Weibo has set a protection status for the "dead account": it cannot log in, cannot post new content, and cannot delete content.
Baidu Netdisk stipulates that after the close relatives of the deceased complete the identity verification procedures, they can exercise rights such as freezing and deleting the relevant personal information of the deceased. Except if the deceased had other arrangements before his death.
Tan Zuocai suggested that platforms cannot prevent inheritance through user agreements at will; accounts with economic value should be allowed to be inherited; heirs should at least have the right to "take back and back up" emotional content. The platform can establish a set of procedures: the heirs provide death certificates and kinship certificates. After verification, the platform will decide whether to open viewing rights or provide data backup based on the deceased's lifetime wishes.
Privacy conflicts facing digital inheritance inheritance
