Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has ruled that Facebook must grant parents access to their late daughter’s profile and private messages. It was held that parents can inherit the contract between their child and the social media platform in the event of death.
Following the death of their daughter, who was killed by a train at a station in Berlin in 2012, to the applicants sought to gain access to her Facebook profile and private messages. The police were unable to determine if the young woman’s death was caused by suicide or if it was an accident. This initiated the applicants’ request for access, hoping to shed light on the matter.
The child’s mother had tried logging on to her daughter’s account using the password she had shared with her previously, however it was found that the profile has been set to “memorialised” mode. This setting places the word “remembering” beside the deceased user’s name on their profile, allowing it to act as a place for family and friends to pay their respects and share memories via posts. Facebook denied access to the profile citing data protection laws.
The Federal Court found that the Facebook content should be treated similar to analogue documents, such as diaries and personal letters which can be inherited under German law.
The Court also found that data protection rules did not apply as the new General Data Protection Regulation only protects living persons.
Click here for the judgement in German.