What are "dead pages"?: who subscribes to them, what they say, who reads it
Recently, disturbing communities called "dead pages" have been gaining popularity on social networks. They collect accounts of people who have already passed away, publish their photos, tell the circumstances of their deaths, create memory pages and post links to profiles. Some of these groups have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. For more information about why users are interested in such content, who subscribes to these pages, and what exactly they write there, see the Izvestia article.
Virtual memory: how "dead pages" appeared
Today, social networks have become not only a place of communication, but also a space of memory. When a person passes away, his page often remains online as a digital footprint, a reminder of the days he lived. More and more often, relatives and friends decide not to delete the account, but to save it as a kind of virtual monument.
VKontakte even has an official mechanism for this. So, after the death of users, loved ones can choose whether to completely delete the page or "preserve" it. In the latter case, all the content published during his lifetime is preserved, but interaction with it becomes impossible (you can not write comments, put likes, send requests to friends). The page turns into a kind of memorial.
However, there is something frightening about this digital memory. Such accounts become part of a kind of online cemeteries, where every status, photo or publication acquires its own meaning. The last words in the status turn into posthumous messages: "Someone, please, give me a double-sided tape," wrote the girl who died of cancer. "Why is everything so heavy?" wrote a guy who died of anaphylactic shock. "The life of dogs is too short, this is their only drawback," said the girl who died in an accident.
Short phrases, once mundane, are now perceived as symbols of fate, accidentally imprinted before leaving. So, after the death of 27-year-old Irina from Stavropol, who died after giving birth, users turned her page into a platform for discussing the fear of motherhood and the pain of loss. Under the photos with bouquets and wedding shots, they wrote sympathies to the widower and reflected on the risks of pregnancy. And 71-year—old Alexey Samoshchenko from Odnoklassniki did not leave any last words - only recipes for pickled cucumbers and tips for cleansing the liver. His page, like his life, remained simple, human, not for show.
Sometimes the latest publication feels like a premonition. Fourteen-year-old Sasha, who died in a scooter accident, wrote a few days before his death: "If you don't wake up tomorrow, if it turns out that today is your last day on earth, would you be proud of what you've done in this life?" These words have become a terrible prophecy for many — and a reason for controversy and accusations in the comments.
The policy of foreign platforms: what happens to accounts after death
The phenomenon of "dead pages" exists not only in Russia, but also the largest foreign social networks. Each platform has developed its own policy regarding the accounts of deceased users, and approaches here vary significantly.
Facebook* (owned by Meta, a company recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) allows relatives to choose one of two options. After the official confirmation of the death, the page can be converted into a memorial profile. In this case, the inscription Remembering ("In memory") appears next to the user's name, and access to account management is limited. The content published during his lifetime remains in place, but it is impossible to log in under the login of the deceased or publish on his behalf. The second option is to completely delete the page at the request of loved ones.
Instagram* (also owned by Meta, a company banned in Russia) operates on a similar principle. At the request of relatives or friends, the account can be marked as a memorial account or completely deleted. The memorial page saves photos and posts, but new comments and likes are no longer available to most users.
Twitter/X adheres to a stricter policy. The platform does not support memorial profiles. After an official request from the family, the deceased's account is completely deleted along with all publications.
LinkedIn, being a professional network, also deletes pages at the request of relatives or colleagues. The main purpose of this practice is to protect personal data and prevent unauthorized use of the profile of the deceased.
At the same time, the policy of foreign platforms is often controversial. Memorial pages are turning into open platforms for public comments and discussions. This can lead not only to expressions of condolences, but also to provocative or offensive messages. As a result, the memory of a person is under threat — the boundary between respect and invasion of personal space is becoming less and less obvious.
Why do people subscribe to "dead pages"
The popularity of the so-called dead pages on social networks raises a legitimate question: what makes living people interested in the accounts of those who are no longer there? Psychologists and sociologists identify several key reasons explaining this phenomenon.
First, it's the search for an emotional connection. For many users, visiting the pages of the deceased becomes a way to keep in touch with those who have passed away and maintain a sense of their presence. People reread old statuses, review photos, and leave comments—as if they were continuing a conversation they hadn't had time to complete during their lifetime. Such pages turn into a space of memory and sorrow, where you can express feelings that are sometimes impossible to manifest in reality.
Secondly, curiosity and the desire for strong emotions play a significant role. The content of the "dead pages" is often filled with dramatic stories and recent publications, which arouses interest and emotional response. In the digital age, death has ceased to be a completely personal event — it has become part of a public space where tragedy turns into an informational and even cultural phenomenon.
Different groups of users access such pages with different motives. Young people are more often looking for a way to experience emotions, discuss tragedies, comprehend issues of life and death, or simply touch a forbidden topic. Adults more often see these pages as a place of support and memory — an opportunity to express grief, share memories, and prevent a trace of a person from disappearing from the digital world. For many, this is becoming a kind of online ritual, replacing traditional forms of commemoration.
Psychologist Sergey Fedchenko notes that the attitude to the pages of the deceased is a deeply personal issue that has no universal solution.
"Unfortunately, there are no universal prescriptions for experiencing psychodrama after the death of a loved one or relative. Here you should listen to yourself and decide what to do — make a virtual monument from your account or delete it forever. In my opinion, social networks should mark the pages of deceased users with some kind of label and leave the possibility of commenting on the wall so that loved ones on the anniversary of death can write about what they remember about the deceased. This is important and will resonate with young people, who are the main contingent of social networks."
In addition to psychological factors, the influence of the social platforms themselves also plays an important role. Algorithms automatically promote posts that cause activity, such as likes, comments, and repostings. The more reactions the content gets, the more often it appears in other users' feeds. This is how a kind of "virtual memory circle" is formed, where emotions and attention become a kind of fuel that supports the life of the pages of the deceased.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
