New Israeli Law Enters Into Force: What Happens to Your Digital Accounts After You’re Gone?

On July 23, 2025, a groundbreaking Israeli law came into effect: the Digital Content Access After Death Law, 2024. This new legislation addresses a major question of our digital age:Who gets access to our online accounts and personal content after we die—or if we lose the ability to manage them ourselves?

What Does the Law Do?

For the first time in Israel, individuals have the legal right to decide what should happen to their personal digital content—photos, videos, emails, documents, social media posts, cloud files—after death or incapacity.

The law requires digital service providers (i.e., any platform primarily used for sharing, storing, or managing personal content) to establish clear policies for handling a user’s digital data post-mortem. This obligation extends to international providers as well, as long as they intentionally offer digital content services to Israeli users.

Who Gets Access—And When?

If a user hasn’t left clear instructions, close relatives or trusted contacts may be granted access to personal content, based on a regulated legal process.The law is designed to balance privacy rights with emotional and practical needs, such as memorialization, inheritance, and closure.

Legal Context and Global Significance

The law is based on a private member bill submitted by Knesset Member Erez Malul, which amended Israel’s Inheritance Law to recognize digital rights as inheritable assets.

Israel joins a growing list of countries addressing the legal status of digital content after death. As more of our lives move online, this law underscores the importance of digital legacy planning—giving users control over what happens to their data, just like a will does for physical possessions.