The Transfer of Facebook, Instagram, Icloud Accounts, etc., in Germany and Austria

Gregor Christandl (University of Graz) recently published, The Transfer of Facebook, Instagram, Icloud Accounts, etc., in Germany and Austria, Graz Law Working Paper, November 2023. Provided below is an Abstract:

It is only in the last decade that German and Austrian inheritance law have begun to address the new issues raised by digitization. One aspect of this is the question of what should happen to all the digital content of a deceased person, known as “digital inheritance”. After an initial period of uncertainty, it is now certain that, in principle, this too forms part of the estate, since, according to the opinion that now prevails in doctrine and case law in Germany and Austria, inheritance law does not respect the private sphere of the deceased. This article addresses the question of the conditions under which heirs in Germany and Austria are entitled to access digital content left by the deceased on social media and the like.