Clifton van der Linden is an associate professor and the director of the Digital Society Lab at McMaster University. He is also the academic director of the master of public policy program.

When a sponsored ad for a company called EverGlow Toronto appeared in my Facebook feed recently, I couldn’t help but note the recent spate of purported local business owners posting emotional farewells as they suddenly closed up shop under devastating personal circumstances – invariably accompanied by a 24-hour fire sale of their remaining inventory at ostensibly deep discounts.

This particular post was supposedly written by a woman named Rose and opened with: “Norman has passed away.” It went on to describe Norman as Rose’s husband, love of her life, and founder of EverGlow.

The post continued: “I have not only lost my partner, but must now continue without him by my side. That is why I have decided to close EverGlow.” Readers were invited to honour Norman by participating in “a farewell sale of up to 80% off – for the next 24 hours only” as a way to “own a piece from our collection and carry a part of our story with you.”

By the time the post had reached my feed, more than 1,000 people had reacted with supportive emojis and it had been shared 58 times. Moreover, nearly 300 people had commented........

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