DIGITAL HERITAGE IN BRAZIL: REGULATORY GAPS, PLATFORM POLICIES, AND LEGISLATIVE PERSPECTIVES IN THE DIGITAL ASSET SUCCESSION

Abstract

The growing digitalization of social, economic, and personal relations has expanded the creation of digital goods and assets that remain linked to their holders after death, while the Brazilian legal system still presents gaps regarding their succession. This article analyzes digital inheritance in Brazil through three interconnected dimensions: the current legal framework, the policies of major digital platforms, and legislative perspectives for digital asset succession. The objective is to identify gaps and convergences between law and technological architecture and to propose an interdisciplinary matrix to support succession analysis. The study adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach based on bibliographic and documentary research involving legislation, case-law trends, pending bills, and official platform policies. The results show that patrimonial, existential, and hybrid digital assets require different treatment and that legal transferability does not correspond automatically to technical accessibility. The analysis also indicates that legacy mechanisms offered by Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta increase user autonomy but do not replace succession rules or privacy safeguards. The proposed matrix combines asset nature, custody, prior manifestation of will, third-party rights, and access restrictions. The study concludes that legal certainty depends on the integration of regulation, succession planning, and technological governance.