On The Inheritance Of Social Media Network Virtual Property

Coming with the extremely high progress in IT and social media areas in recent years,the emergence of social media network virtual property,and its inheritance problems also arise.Social media network virtual property refers to information that exists,in the form of data,is recorded,stored and presented in digital form in an uncentered and continuous communication channel created based on Internet communication technology.Social media network virtual property can be categorized as account and passwords themselves,account content with economic interests,and account content with personality interests,and the legal nature involved involves rights and interests relating to personal information,intellectual property,the right to privacy,etc.From the 3 abovementioned perspectives(personal information protection,protection of the right to privacy and the identification of inheritance),it could be concluded that social media network virtual property is within the realm of personal legal property,and inheritance by heirs can protect the deceased’s personality interests better,so social media network virtual property is inheritable.In the common practices of social media user agreements,network operators often exclude or restrict relatives from inheriting accounts,and do not support relatives to access and copy the corresponding account content after the user’s death.Therefore,China’s network social media virtual property inheritance system should be established,except in cases where the user clearly stated that inheritance is not allowed before his death,the heirs can inherit the accounts and passwords themselves,the account content with economic interests and the account content with personality interests.Inheritance needs to follow the operation method of inheritance application submitted by the heirs-review by the network operator-network operator notified of the deceased’s account password-the heirs to access,copy,correct and delete the content of the deceased’s account to exercise inheritance rights.The application must be made within 3 years of the user’s death.Social media network virtual property that has not been applied for after the expiration date may be deleted by the network operator itself.