Fr Renè Cilia died in a traffic accident in November 2012.

When Joseph Cilia’s elder brother, Renè, died in a traffic accident he could not cope with the instant avalanche of emotional messages that inundated his and his brother’s Facebook accounts.

As he focused on coming to terms with the tragedy, he decided to close both accounts.

Keeping them active was too overwhelming and painful.

But Facebook somehow knew the priest had died and did not allow him into Renè’s account even though he knew the login name and password.

“I contacted Facebook and they told me that my brother’s account was in a memorial state and it would automatically shut down within a year, under normal Facebook procedures.

“Had it been me I would have shut it down immediately. It was just a reminder of what my family had lost. I could not bear to see what people were posting there so I actually had to unfriend my brother – it was very hard for me to click unfriend,” he recalled.

I contacted Facebook and they said my brother’s account was in a memorial state

Mr Cilia is one of the many people who had to deal with the relatively new phenomenon of digital inheritance after his brother died on his way to celebrate the 7am Mass in Żejtun in November 2012.

“The last thing I wanted was an inundation of messages on the day when I had to go on the scene, identify the body, deal with police and go home to my grieving family,” he said, adding he understood that people meant well.

For some mourners, like Mr Cilia, social media platforms are a reminder of all they lost, but for others they are a place where to pay tribute to their loved ones.

Joseph with his elder brother, Renè, when they were toddlers.

In September 2012 Luciano Schembri also lost his brother, Fernando, who was 22, in a road traffic accident.

“Facebook was and still is a constant reminder of the big loss to me, our parents and all our friends,” he said.

“But, more so, I think it’s a constant reminder of all the great memories I have of him.He was my friend not only my brother and, since we basically spent all the time together, all the photos he has on Facebook remind me of a particular day or event.”

Most of their friends still post on Mr Schembri’s brother’s wall, leaving messages there on occasions such as his birthday.

“Whenever I see these messages it’s a reminder that his friends still miss him and love him.

“I think anyone who loses someone he loves wishes that the lost person is never forgotten, at least that’s how it is for me.

“So seeing that people still think of him is a nice feeling. Obviously it doesn’t remove the pain... but, at least in my case, it does help,” he said.

Social media afterlife

Last month the BBC reported the story of Josh Grant, from London, who was unable to unlock his late mother’s tablet despite providing Apple with copies of her will, death certificate and solicitor’s letter.

As this highlights, with the dawn of social media people leave much more than their physical possessions when they die.

Important documents and photos are no longer filed in drawers and albums but can be saved on a computer or stored on a social media or iCloud account that is inaccessible without its password.

For this reason people are starting to leave passwords in their wills.

But what happens if a loved one dies without leaving the necessary passwords? ICT lawyer Antonio Ghio said digital inheritance is a new concept to Maltese law and, so far, no one tested the boundaries on a local level.

One of the problems he foresees is that major service providers – such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google – are established abroad where other laws might apply.

And leaving a will might not solve the problem since providers have strict terms and conditions.

If, for the sake of argument, the service provider is based in Malta and a user died, Dr Ghio believes the issue would fall under the general laws of succession.

“The heir could make a successful claim to have the data released to them under succession law,” he said.

“But at the moment there are no rules on how this would happen. I would say Maltese law is already broad enough to cater for these situations but the problem arises when you have service providers elsewhere who, in their terms and conditions, state that if the user dies the account will be deleted,” he said.