A 15-year-old died under a subway train, and her parents fought Facebook for eight years to read her messages

A girl joined Facebook in 2011, at 14, with her parents' consent. In 2012, aged 15, she died in a subway accident whose circumstances are still unclear. Facebook put her account into memorial status, which locked her parents out. Her mother, who inherited jointly with the father, asked for full access, including private messages. The parents wanted to learn whether their daughter had meant to die and to defend themselves against a possible damages claim by the train driver. The Berlin Regional Court ruled for them on 17 December 2015. The Berlin Court of Appeal reversed on 31 May 2017. On 12 July 2018 the Federal Court of Justice restored the first ruling (III ZR 183/17). It held that the user contract passed to the heirs like any other contract. It compared the messages to diaries and letters, which heirs inherit, and found that data protection law does not protect the dead. Facebook then sent a USB stick holding a PDF of about 14,000 pages. The parents said that was not access. The Regional Court fined Facebook 10,000 euros; the Court of Appeal lifted the fine on 3 December 2019. On 27 August 2020 the Federal Court ruled again (III ZB 30/20). Facebook had to lift the memorial status so the parents could view the account as their daughter had, without using it to post.