criminal-law
Against the law to create a social media account of a deceased person?
<p>Is it illegal to create a, say, Facebook/Twitter account under the full legal name of a deceased person and try to mimic or imitate their living likeness, such as using it as if you were them (like they're alive).</p>

<p>I mean you can't be stealing from them directly if they're not alive. It may be indecent, but is it illegal to impersonate the person who has passed? Will it count as "posing as another" if the "another" is dead?</p>

<p>Most importantly, is it illegal?</p>

<p>You tag the question with "criminal law", suggesting that by "illegal" you mean "is it a crime" -- that would depend on jurisdiction, but in the US or my state, it is not a crime. There are crimes that you could commit with such an account, but violating the TOS is not itself a crime. However, it is illegal, a breach of contract, as you can see from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms" rel="nofollow">TOS</a> "You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission".</p>

<p>It may violate the terms of use of the site that you're using, but in the US,  there is no law against what you're proposing, even if the person was alive.</p>

<p>If you are using the person's likeness for commercial purposes, or you derive profit from it, you could be found liable to their estate based on their <a href="/questions/tagged/right-of-publicity" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;right-of-publicity&#39;" rel="tag">right-of-publicity</a>.  (However, that would be a tort, not a crime.)</p>
