When someone passes you care about – it’s a sad time. Did you know if you’re a relative or executor, then you can close their social media accounts?
Here’s how we closed a friend’s Facebook page:
Facebook has a dedicated space for Managing a deceased person’s account.
You can fill in an online form for a Special request for a medically incapacitated or deceased person’s account https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480
You’ll need to add your contact details, and the person you would like to remove or memorialize. Add in the URL link to the person’s profile and the account’s email address.
Then you have a couple of options:
- Please memorialise this account
- Please remove this account because the account owner is deceased
- Please remove this account because the account owner is medically incapacitated
- I have a special request.
I submitted my friend’s details and Facebook account. It took around an hour or two for my application to be processed.
I received a confirmation email from Facebook titled ‘Memorialise Request’.
I’m very sorry for your loss. As you requested, we’ve memorialised your loved one’s account.
You can learn more about memorialization by visiting the Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/103897939701143?ref=cr
My thoughts are with you and your loved ones.
Please let me know if there are any questions I can help answer.
You can still find this person on Facebook. There is a message that says:
Remembering Person Name
We hope that people who love FirstName will find comfort in visiting her profile to remember and celebrate her life.
You can your own Tributes: Share stories, commemorate a special day or let friends and family know that you’re thinking about her.
Here I uploaded two of my favourite photos of my friend. Her mother uploaded a copy of the funeral order of service. I hope over time, it becomes a place where all of her relatives and friends can go and remember her fondly.
You might like to leave instructions in your will on how you’d like your social media accounts handled.
For more information:
Hard Questions: What Should Happen to People’s Online Identity When They Die? https://about.fb.com/news/2017/08/what-should-happen-to-online-identity/
Adding a Legacy Contact
https://about.fb.com/news/2015/02/adding-a-legacy-contact/
Remembering Our Loved Ones
https://about.fb.com/news/2014/02/remembering-our-loved-ones/