The digital will on Facebook: the platform will memorialize deceased users (Pages or memorial profiles): What does it mean to memorialize an account? Is the account deleted or deactivated?: When a user passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. When an account is memorialized, privacy is set so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or find it in search. The timeline remains so friends and family can leave messages in remembrance. No one can log in to memorialized accounts.
Report this case here so we can memorialize this person’s account. When memorialized, access to the profile is restricted to confirmed friends only. Please note that, to protect the deceased user’s privacy, we cannot provide anyone with the account login information. We process requests from immediate family members to close the account permanently.
The next step—reasonable, but surely ill-timed and extremely hard in the moment—is to prove you are an immediate family member and choose what you want to do: either memorialize the account or delete it. In both cases, you must provide proof of your relationship to the person on whose behalf you are making the request.
How do I report a user’s death or request that the account be memorialized or deleted? Memorializing the account:
Submit this form to request that this user’s account be memorialized. This feature limits access to the deceased person’s profile to their confirmed friends. Please note that, to protect the deceased user’s privacy, we cannot provide anyone with the account login details. We also comply with valid account deletion requests submitted by the user’s immediate family members.
Account deletion: Immediate family members may request the deletion of a loved one’s account. This permanently removes the account from Facebook so no one can view it. We will not restore the account or provide information about its content unless required by applicable law. If you request deletion but are not an immediate family member of the deceased, we will not process your request. Instead, the account will be memorialized.
Immediate family members can request account deletion here. Use this form as well if you want to make a special request regarding a deceased user’s account or if you want to delete the profile.
Tips on what to do with the virtual lives of the deceased.
Microsoft, Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook offer options to close accounts and create memorial profiles.
Have you ever wondered what will happen to your digital life when you die? Are you concerned about not being able to access your loved ones’ personal information? Do you want to know how to close or access your relatives’ social media and email accounts once they pass away?
The phenomenon of social networks is relatively new; in 2002, websites began to appear promoting networks of online circles of friends, and the term was used to describe relationships in virtual communities. In 2003, they became popular with the emergence of Myspace and Xing.
As the number of social media users increases, so does the number of people who die and belong to these networks.
According to LinkedIn (a professional social network), the death rate will continue to rise when the average age of users is taken into account. A clear example is Facebook, where the fastest-growing demographic is not teenagers but women over 55. However, beyond this increase, the key is to determine what will happen to the personal information stored and shared through the network—especially at times when families need access to personal data found in email or on social networks.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter already offer options to create memorial profiles and to close or access deceased relatives’ accounts. Below, you can find the procedures and actions you should follow. Email also expires: Hotmail deletes accounts after one year of inactivity, and Google deletes an account when it detects it has not been used for more than nine months.
Hotmail and MSN preserve information Microsoft offers a service that preserves the data from a deceased user’s account. To access this information, family members must send an email to msrecord @ microsoft . com with the following documentation: a photocopy of the user’s death certificate, a copy of the deceased person’s ID card, and a court order stating that you are an immediate family member or a beneficiary of that person’s estate. You must also attach a document with the account holder’s first and last name and date of birth, the approximate date the account was created and the last login, the city and region listed on the account, and a physical mailing address.
Twitter retrieves public tweets: To request the closure of an account or obtain a copy of a deceased person’s public tweets, the family member must send to privacy @ twitter . com their full name, contact details, email address, relationship to the deceased user, the Twitter account name, and an obituary notice or news article, if available.
YouTube allows videos to be deleted: YouTube allows you to access a deceased relative’s account and close it to remove the videos that person uploaded to the platform. (To access this service, click here). There you will see the fax number in the U.S. to which you can send the documents and review the permissions required to close the account. Google will take 30 days to verify the information and provide a response. Data is only provided in less than a month with a court order.
Google allows access to email: Google and its Gmail email account allow access to the email content of a deceased person. Here you will find the requirements that must be attached to access the account. Google will take 30 days to process and validate the data provided. If you need access to the account contents before then, please note that Google will only provide the information if there is a valid court order or legal process.