Background Digital inequality is the unequal distribution of digital and internet-based devices, utilities and services. Digital legacy is the digital and virtual remnant of individuals when they die. Globally, societies are becoming increasingly digitized, thus increasing the size of digital footprints after death. Consequently, it is likely that individuals (and those important to them) will experience increasing digital inequality in digital legacy after death; however, the potential scope and impact of this phenomena has not been investigated in the literature.

Aims We aimed to conduct a rapid scoping review of the literature to describe digital inequalities in digital legacy after death.

Methods Rapid scoping review using three electronic databases, using combinations of keywords related to digital inequality and digital legacy.

Results 54 articles were identified which described various aspects of digital inequality, digital legacy, and digital inequality in digital legacy. We identified four key takeaways: (1) In healthcare and lay media, ‘digital legacy’ mostly referred to pragmatic elements of estate planning (e.g. providing next of kin access to online accounts and social media), rather than describing processes for preserving memories and subjective narratives. (2) There is little published evidence about inequalities in digital legacy. (3) Most authors writing about digital legacy and inequality are social scientists or computer scientists. (4) Most resources are behind academic paywalls.

Conclusion There is little evidence about the potential impacts of digital inequality in digital legacy. There are a limited number of academic disciplines represented in this research and a specific need for more palliative care involvement. Researchers should aim to improve societal discussion and awareness of the digital inequality in digital legacy, by conducting interdisciplinary research, to better understand, and prevent, these inequalities.