The transmission of account ownership in social networks in the light of inheritance law: a reflection from the fundamental right to privacy and intimacy

Abstract

Digital heritage is a reality that will not go backwards. Due to the fact that the subject is not foreseen in Brazilian legislation, there is evidence of disparity and legal uncertainty in the scope of the protection of personality rights and at the same time in the succession of social networks. It is clear that the expansion of internet access in recent decades has brought previously unimaginable issues, such as digital assets, social networks and the possible transmission of such accounts, which can include data, personal messages, photos, videos and much other information. of a personal nature. Consequently, this deductive study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the possibility of considering accounts on social networks as inheritance, dealing with them within the scope of Succession Law, without offending the privacy and intimacy of the deceased person. For this, inheritance in inheritance law was presented, in order to identify digital assets for inheritance purposes and also highlighted the fundamental rights of privacy and intimacy of the deceased. Finally, the nature of social networks was deepened in order to verify whether they could be classified as inheritance, without affecting the deceased's right to privacy and intimacy. After considerations, it was concluded that access to the deceased's social networks can impact the rights of his personality and, therefore, the last will will be extremely valuable for the resolution of any possible conflict generated due to his heirs.