An Analysis of Social Media Accounts as Digital Heritage Within The Indonesian Legal System
Downloads
Advances in information technology have given rise to social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, which function not only as means of communication but also as sources of economic income in the form of digital assets. This study addresses two research questions: the legal status of social media accounts as objects of inheritance and the regulations governing the transfer of assets within social media accounts during the inheritance process. The objective of this study is to analyze the legal status of social media accounts as digital inheritance and to formulate regulations that provide legal certainty for heirs. This study offers theoretical benefits for the development of inheritance law and practical benefits for the government, notaries, the public, and heirs. The research method employed is normative legal research using legislative, conceptual, comparative, and factual legal approaches. Based on the research findings, social media accounts can be classified as objects of inheritance under civil law, Islamic law, and customary law because they constitute intangible property, possess economic value, involve copyright, and provide social benefits. However, the transfer of digital assets still faces obstacles related to the Terms of Service of the platforms, and there are currently no specific legal norms governing this matter, thereby creating legal uncertainty for heirs. Therefore, specific regulations regarding digital inheritance in Indonesia are necessary to provide legal certainty and legal protection for heirs.
Copyright (c) 2026 Wayan Arieka Naka Maheswari, I Wayan Wesna Astara, I Nyoman Sukandia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA). that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
