Facebook profiles of dead people to outnumber the living in 50 years, study says

The dead are taking over Facebook.

That morbid outcome was raised by academics at Oxford University in the UK, and the broad implications are grave. The research suggests that Facebook members who have passed away will outnumber the living on the social networking site within 50 years.

“These statistics give rise to new and difficult questions around who has the right to all this data, how should it be managed in the best interests of the families and friends of the deceased, and its use by future historians to understand the past,” said lead author Carl Öhman, a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute.

The Oxford analysis predicts that, based on 2018 user levels, at least 1.4 billion members on Facebook will die before 2100, which would mean the number of dead there could surpass the living by 2070. And if Facebook continues to expand at current rates, the number of deceased users could reach as high as 4.9 billion before the end of the century.

“The management of our digital remains will eventually affect everyone who uses social media since all of us will one day pass away and leave our data behind,” Öhman says. “But the totality of the deceased user profiles also amounts to something larger than the sum of its parts. It is, or will at least become, part of our global digital heritage.”

Along those lines, Öhman says that it is important to stress the rights and privacy of the departed. “The demise of your biological body does not completely strip you of ethical rights such as privacy and dignity. Overall, Facebook has done a pretty good job in navigating these issues, and has balanced the interests of the bereaved with those of the deceased.”