[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":210},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f3kt5p3rwpoj6y":3,"$fe8zotcbem6fc":42},{"navigation":4,"tagline":41},[5,9,13,17,21,25,29,33,37],{"accentColor":6,"slug":7,"title":8},"#0C2478","world-news-and-current-affairs","World News & Current Affairs",{"accentColor":10,"slug":11,"title":12},"#A40C2C","social-commentary-and-opinion","Social Commentary & Opinion",{"accentColor":14,"slug":15,"title":16},"#A44800","arts-and-culture","Arts & Culture",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"#877A00","science-and-technology","Science & Technology",{"accentColor":22,"slug":23,"title":24},"#2F7D32","school-life","School Life",{"accentColor":26,"slug":27,"title":28},"#8248C4","interviews","Interviews",{"accentColor":30,"slug":31,"title":32},"#00766C","wellness-and-self-care","Wellness & Self-Care",{"accentColor":34,"slug":35,"title":36},"#1669A6","academic-resources","Academic Resources",{"accentColor":38,"slug":39,"title":40},"#A3306F","creative-writing","Creative Writing","Words have the power to change the world, so we’ve been choosing them carefully for 19 years.",{"_id":43,"authors":44,"body":51,"bylineOverride":47,"dek":47,"heroImage":115,"moreFromSection":130,"printEdition":201,"publishedAt":205,"section":206,"seoDescription":47,"seoTitle":47,"slug":207,"tags":47,"title":208,"wordCount":209},"article-digital-immortality-what-happens-to-your-data-after-you-die",[45],{"_id":46,"bio":47,"name":48,"photo":47,"role":49,"slug":50},"author-rozalie-slamova",null,"Rozálie Slámová","Editor-in-Chief and Design Editor","rozalie-slamova",[52,63,71,79,87,91,99,107],{"_key":53,"_type":54,"children":55,"markDefs":61,"style":62},"47c1e548e320","block",[56],{"_key":57,"_type":58,"marks":59,"text":60},"3ad8ae109265","span",[],"Imagine attending your own funeral via a screen. In 2022 a British educator appeared as a lifelike video avatar and answered questions at her memorial. Our online lives are now so extensive that death no longer automatically erases them; instead, data linger across social media profiles, cloud backups, search histories and even internet-of-things devices. As ethicist Jessica Heesen warns, these digital shadows can blur the boundaries of grief.",[],"normal",{"_key":64,"_type":54,"children":65,"markDefs":70,"style":62},"ef41845ad685",[66],{"_key":67,"_type":58,"marks":68,"text":69},"dfdc3b11ff02",[],"Even if you rarely post on social media, your phone logs movements and conversations, your smart doorbell records video and your search history reveals private thoughts. A 2019 survey in the UK found that one in four people wanted all of their data removed from the internet when they die, yet no legal or technical mechanism currently exists to ensure such a digital purge. Scholars at the Oxford Internet Institute estimate that by 2100 there could be up to 4.9 billion deceased users on Facebook.",[],{"_key":72,"_type":54,"children":73,"markDefs":78,"style":62},"8f71cf5cfad6",[74],{"_key":75,"_type":58,"marks":76,"text":77},"9e94380ec18a",[],"What actually happens to your social-media accounts when you die? Policies vary. Facebook allows users over 18 to appoint a legacy contact who can manage a memorialised profile — changing profile pictures, pinning posts or requesting deletion.",[],{"_key":80,"_type":54,"children":81,"markDefs":86,"style":62},"367ad0ef5fb8",[82],{"_key":83,"_type":58,"marks":84,"text":85},"5e79a1e1be14",[],"Instagram offers similar options: an account can be memorialized or removed. TikTok does not provide legacy features; inactive accounts simply have their username reset after 180 days.",[],{"_key":88,"_type":89,"text":90},"a9fb10674bc8","pullQuote","Until laws catch up, the responsibility falls on us to shape how, and whether, we remain online after death.",{"_key":92,"_type":54,"children":93,"markDefs":98,"style":62},"cfec10e63efa",[94],{"_key":95,"_type":58,"marks":96,"text":97},"8d7a9bf6b3be",[],"Cloud storage and email services also have procedures. Google’s Inactive Account Manager can send data to a trusted contact or delete it after a period of inactivity, but the company will not provide login credentials to family members. Microsoft deletes accounts after two years of inactivity and requires a court order before releasing information. Estate planners warn that executors often struggle to identify digital assets, and even when they know about them, service-provider terms can block access. Executors may not know what digital assets existed and often cannot access them, and providers rarely give account contents to family members without a court order.",[],{"_key":100,"_type":54,"children":101,"markDefs":106,"style":62},"5b30f963265a",[102],{"_key":103,"_type":58,"marks":104,"text":105},"a318d849e116",[],"Legally, you do not own most online profiles. Science Focus notes that social-media accounts are governed by licences and are non-transferable: one account, one user. You cannot leave your Instagram or Kindle library to someone else, because you only purchased a licence for your lifetime. Data-protection laws apply only to living, identifiable persons, so in many jurisdictions privacy rights end at death. Without specific instructions, companies decide what happens to digital remains. That’s why experts urge people to take inventory of their accounts, decide which ones should be deleted and use tools like Facebook’s Legacy Contact or Google’s Inactive Account Manager to document their wishes. Backing up photos and documents outside cloud services can prevent them from being lost when an account is closed.",[],{"_key":108,"_type":54,"children":109,"markDefs":114,"style":62},"c25d7efc84b4",[110],{"_key":111,"_type":58,"marks":112,"text":113},"400218e2a357",[],"Our data clearly outlive us. Virtual imprints on Facebook, Instagram, X and other platforms can persist indefinitely if family members don’t act, and digital death does not equal physical death. Emerging AI systems promise to turn these footprints into interactive avatars, deadbots or chatbots trained on a person’s digital footprint, raising profound questions about identity, consent and the grieving process. In this legal and cultural vacuum, the best we can do is plan. Decide whether you want your accounts deleted or memorialized, back up the digital content you value and appoint someone you trust to manage your online presence. At the same time, society must grapple with the idea that a digital ghost can never fully capture a person. Cambridge researchers warn that we need to think now about how to mitigate the social and psychological risks of digital immortality. Until laws catch up, the responsibility falls on us to shape how, and whether, we remain online after death.",[],{"alt":116,"asset":117,"caption":120,"credit":121,"crop":122,"hotspot":125},"A woman lies awake in bed beside a glowing phone, in a still from Black Mirror.",{"_ref":118,"_type":119},"image-a6431930550a17eb12c534a65055d9b5123d4c1e-360x270-jpg","reference","Be Right Back is a Black Mirror episode depicting the return of a lost loved one through artificial intelligence.","Netflix",{"_type":123,"bottom":124,"left":124,"right":124,"top":124},"sanity.imageCrop",0,{"_type":126,"height":127,"width":127,"x":128,"y":129},"sanity.imageHotspot",0.6,0.4,0.45,[131,148,170,185],{"_id":132,"authors":133,"bylineOverride":47,"dek":137,"heroImage":138,"publishedAt":144,"section":145,"slug":146,"title":147},"article-how-to-rewrite-a-memory",[134],{"name":135,"slug":136},"Julie Hoffmanová","julie-hoffmanova","“Now if you’ll just look right here…”. A sudden flash. You blink, wig snatched, and Tommy Lee Jones fills the blank with a new story. Instead of an intergallactic crime, you’ve witnessed a gas leak or a flash of light refracted from Venus. The audience laughs, its absurd, just sci-fi gadgets. Except, there might be more truth to it than you would have expected.",{"alt":139,"asset":140,"caption":142,"credit":143,"crop":47,"hotspot":47},"Will Smith in black sunglasses holds up a glowing neuralyzer.",{"_ref":141,"_type":119},"image-a9494dfd7b83e5599e031094c328afe7b13cbabf-720x438-jpg","Will Smith in Men in Black 3, 2012.","Cinematic Collection\u002FAlamy","2026-03-01T07:49:00Z",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"how-to-rewrite-a-memory","How to Rewrite a Memory",{"_id":149,"authors":150,"bylineOverride":47,"dek":154,"heroImage":155,"publishedAt":166,"section":167,"slug":168,"title":169},"article-grok-a-powerful-tool-with-profound-social-consequences",[151],{"name":152,"slug":153},"Tom Zerzánek","tom-zerzanek","When a single billionaire controls both the data source, the AI, and the distribution platform itself, while holding strong political views, it creates an environment where their products act as instruments of influence.",{"alt":156,"asset":157,"caption":159,"credit":160,"crop":161,"hotspot":162},"A woman walks past a London bus stop poster of Elon Musk reading “Who the hell would want to use social media with a built-in child abuse tool?”",{"_ref":158,"_type":119},"image-ea32f5f83a100f1ebe60767f2c13ff29a6d0a27b-912x571-jpg","Activist group ‘Everyone Hates Elon Musk’: an anti-Musk and X poster at a bus stop on the 14th of January 2026, London, United Kingdom.","Derek B. Johnson\u002FCyberscoop",{"_type":123,"bottom":124,"left":124,"right":124,"top":124},{"_type":126,"height":163,"width":163,"x":164,"y":165},0.7,0.5,0.55,"2026-03-01T07:47:00Z",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"grok-a-powerful-tool-with-profound-social-consequences","Grok: A Powerful Tool with Profound Social Consequences",{"_id":171,"authors":172,"bylineOverride":47,"dek":47,"heroImage":176,"publishedAt":181,"section":182,"slug":183,"title":184},"article-how-digital-life-has-slowly-changed-the-way-we-feel-and-create",[173],{"name":174,"slug":175},"Kristýna Kotalová","kristyna-kotalova",{"alt":177,"asset":178,"caption":47,"credit":180,"crop":47,"hotspot":47},"A crowd of commuters blurred in motion around one person standing still.",{"_ref":179,"_type":119},"image-3a4579414d864964cddc7f5c09186c914f5870fa-356x200-jpg","Condé Nast Traveller","2026-03-01T06:48:00Z",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"how-digital-life-has-slowly-changed-the-way-we-feel-and-create","How Digital Life Has Slowly Changed the Way We Feel and Create",{"_id":186,"authors":187,"bylineOverride":47,"dek":191,"heroImage":192,"publishedAt":197,"section":198,"slug":199,"title":200},"article-should-you-trust-medical-studies-and-meta-analyses",[188],{"name":189,"slug":190},"Lucie Víšková","lucie-viskova","Have you ever heard of Mr. Safer? In the 1990s, he wanted to understand how the French could eat more high-fat foods yet have lower rates of heart disease than Americans. He argued that having one glass of wine with a meal a day could help a person have better health, as that was what he claimed the French were doing.",{"alt":193,"asset":194,"caption":47,"credit":196,"crop":47,"hotspot":47},"A hand holds a magnifying glass over a crowd of colorful cut-out figures of people.",{"_ref":195,"_type":119},"image-4c392b734307c8b84e3729368bade7967addb925-768x512-jpg","Western Open Books","2026-03-01T06:47:00Z",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"should-you-trust-medical-studies-and-meta-analyses","Should You Trust Medical Studies and Meta-Analyses?",{"_id":202,"editionNumber":203,"publishDate":204},"printEdition-2025-26-2",2,"2026-03-01","2026-03-01T06:46:00Z",{"accentColor":18,"slug":19,"title":20},"digital-immortality-what-happens-to-your-data-after-you-die","Digital Immortality: What Happens to Your Data After You Die?",597,1790340042587]