Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2022 to Question 104206 on Social Media: Children, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of parents' rights of (a) access to and (b) ownership of their deceased children's digital profiles and posts on social media.

The Government recognises the difficulties that some bereaved parents have experienced when accessing their loved ones' data. The question of parental rights to access of children’s digital profiles and posts is complex, so we are considering this matter with the Ministry of Justice and social media organisations, before deciding on any next steps.

Currently, coroners have extensive powers under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 that allow them to require information for their inquests (which could include relevant digital data following the death of a child). Any party whom the coroner considers to have a sufficient interest in a coronial investigation, which may include bereaved parents, therefore has the right to receive documents and other evidence from the coroner which may be used in the inquest.

Outside of coronial investigations, some social media companies might act voluntarily to share certain information about the material a child was viewing with bereaved families. However, others may operate policies of non-disclosure to third parties (including parents), unless a user takes active steps to nominate a person who may access his or her account after they die or there is a legal obligation to disclose the data. Some social media users might be concerned about the thought of disclosing private information or other digital assets to third parties after their death, and so an automatic right of access is unlikely to be appropriate in every case. Additionally, companies may have to consider other legal issues when responding to data disclosure requests, for example the data protection rights of individuals that were in contact with the deceased person prior to their death.