  We project the future accumulation of profiles belonging to deceased Facebook
users. Our analysis suggests that a minimum of 1.4 billion users will pass away
before 2100 if Facebook ceases to attract new users as of 2018. If the network
continues expanding at current rates, however, this number will exceed 4.9
billion. In both cases, a majority of the profiles will belong to non-Western
users. In discussing our findings, we draw on the emerging scholarship on
digital preservation and stress the challenges arising from curating the
profiles of the deceased. We argue that an exclusively commercial approach to
data preservation poses important ethical and political risks that demand
urgent consideration. We call for a scalable, sustainable, and dignified
curation model that incorporates the interests of multiple stakeholders.
