Permissibility of announcing death in chat rooms for the purpose of receiving condolences
Question

                I often see in chat rooms pages that are just for condolences on the death of one of the relatives of the member in the chat room. What is your opinion?.
Praise be to Allah.It seems to us that it is 
    permissible to announce the death in a chat room of one of its members or 
    one of his relatives for the purpose of receiving condolences and so that 
    people may pray for mercy if it is the member who is deceased, or offer 
    condolences to the one who has lost a family member. This does not come 
    under the heading of the kind of death announcements that are forbidden, so 
    long as it is free from exaggeration in praising the deceased and it does 
    not involve the forbidden matter for which those scholars who forbade it, 
    forbade making announcements in newspapers, namely undue expenses.  
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Azeez ibn 
    Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: 
What is the ruling on 
    offering condolences in newspapers? Is it regarded as a kind of death 
    announcement that is forbidden? 
He replied:
That does not come under 
    the heading of death announcements that are forbidden, although not doing it 
    is preferable, because it costs a lot of money. 
Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn 
    Baaz, 13/408. 
There are interests to be 
    served by announcing the death before the burial such as: supplication may 
    be offered for mercy for him and for him to be made steadfast during the 
    questioning in the grave; the numbers of good people who offered a funeral 
    prayer for him can be increased; the grief of his family may be reduced by 
    these who are close to him. As for announcing the death after the burial, 
    interests are also served by this, among the most important of which are: 
    condolences to the member who has lost one of his family or one of his 
    relatives. 
Among the evidence which 
    points to the principle that we have mentioned here, which is that it is 
    permissible to announce the death of a Muslim, especially before the burial, 
    without any exaggeration in praise of the deceased, is the fact that the 
    Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) announced the death of 
    the Negus, the King of Abyssinia. 
It was narrated that Abu 
    Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Messenger of Allah 
    (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) announced to us the death of the 
    Negus, the ruler of Abyssinia, on the day on which he died, and he said: 
    “Pray for forgiveness for your brother.” 
Al-Bukhaari (1263) and 
    Muslim (951). 
In the hadeeth there is a 
    mention of the deceased so that others are encouraged to pray for him as he 
    deserves and to offer the funeral prayer for him, as the Prophet (blessings 
    and peace of Allah be upon him) offered the funeral prayer in absentia with 
    his companions. 
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah 
    have mercy upon him) said:
Al-Kharqi said, it is 
    recommended to offer condolences to the family of the deceased.
We do not know of any 
    difference of opinion concerning this matter. 
The purpose behind offering 
    condolences is to console the family that has been bereaved, to fulfil their 
    rights and to draw closer to them; the need for that after the burial is the 
    same as the need for it before the burial. 
Al-Mughni, 
    2/408 
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have 
    mercy on him) said:
It should be noted that 
    offering condolences is recommended before the burial and afterwards.
al-Adhkaar, 
    p. 148, 149.  
There is no specific time 
    for offering condolences and no specific place. Simply announcing a death in 
    a chat room is not contrary to any text or any of the aims of sharee’ah. 
The Scholars of the 
    Standing Committee said: there is no specific time or place for offering 
    condolences.
Fataawa al-Lajnah 
    al-Daa’imah, 9/134. 
For more details please see 
    the answer to question number 119130. 
For information on the 
    haraam type of kind of death announcements, and that simply announcing the 
    death is permissible in and of itself, and for information on the words of 
    the scholars and what they quoted as evidence of the hadeeth about the Negus 
    and others, please see the answer to question number
    60008. 
And Allah knows best.