Among many things, one part of a person’s legacy is their digital footprint, including social media profiles. We invest a lot of time into building an online presence that reflects our personality. But what happens to social media accounts after we die?
For many people, social media may be the first — or even the only — way of finding out about a death. It is a way to reach a global audience when notifying friends and extended family of a death. It also serves as a digital tribute forum. You can write on the profiles of your loved ones when you’re thinking of them, or you can write your own tribute for others to view.
Each social media platform offers a different solution for how they handle an account after a user dies. If you desire, you can submit a request to have an account deleted entirely. Other options include turning the profile into an online memorial or tributes page.
Many popular social platforms also offer a way for you to plan what you want to happen to your account after your death. We encourage all social media users to add those settings to your pre-planning list. For some loved ones, your memorialized social presence may be a lasting connection to your legacy.
Below, you can find specific details on the features available on several social media platforms:
Facebook has several options for memorializing accounts, honoring loved ones, setting legacy contacts or even removing an account. Below is an overview of the many options you have before and after death.
Option #1: Transitioning to a Memorialized Facebook Account
Transitioning an active account to a memorialized account allows friends and family members to continue using a person’s profile to share memories. Facebook reports that more than 30 million people view these memorialized profiles each month.
How Facebook Memorialized Accounts Work
At first glance, the most noticeable feature of a memorialized account is that the word “Remembering” appears before a person’s name. The account can only be updated by a designated legacy contact (more on that later), and the content on the profile will remain visible to its original audience. Depending on privacy settings, friends can also share memories on the memorialized timeline (more on that in the Tributes section below).
Reporting a Facebook Account to be Memorialized
Facebook provides a form that friends and family members can fill out to share information about an account that needs to be memorialized. This currently includes the person’s Facebook profile URL link, the date they passed and documentation of the death including an obituary link or death certificate.
Facebook Account Tributes Section
Facebook created a tributes section for memorialized accounts, which provides a separate tab on a person’s profile. This tributes section displays content posted by friends and family members after a person’s death. The update can help differentiate between a person’s original Facebook timeline and posts that were shared later by people who are remembering them.
Option #2: Removing the Account
If you prefer to have your account permanently deleted after you die, you can select that option using these instructions. Facebook also allows immediate family members to ask for a loved one’s account to be removed by submitting documents to verify their request.
Facebook Legacy Contacts
As mentioned above, each Facebook user can designate a legacy contact who will be responsible for their memorialized account after they die.
Legacy contacts can:
- Oversee a memorialized account.
- Create a pinned post on the profile.
- Accept new friend requests.
- Change the profile and cover photos.
However, they cannot:
- Access the account by logging in.
- Modify or delete previous posts.
- View private messages.
- Unfriend anyone.
Learn more about Facebook's memorialization options and how to add a legacy contact to your account.
X (Formerly Twitter)
If an X user dies, a person who is authorized to work on behalf of the estate or a verified immediate family member can request to have the account deactivated. They will be asked to provide information to verify that the request is legitimate.
To learn more about submitting this type of request, click here.
google Accounts
Google — the company behind YouTube, Gmail, Android and many other digital services — offers several options for managing accounts after a user's death. Google allows users to set a length of time for inactivity across your accounts after which their account is considered inactive. Users can choose what happens to their data and designate specific people to receive selected information.
Set up the Inactive Account Manager Tool
Google account users can proactively set up the Inactive Account Manager tool, which are trusted contact(s) designated to receive certain account data in the event of the user's death or a specific period of account inactivity (i.e. three months). Users can choose up to 10 people to receive their account data, with the ability to specify the information shared with each designated person, although some information cannot be shared.
What will trusted contacts receive from Google?
Google notifies designated trusted contacts after the account has been inactive for the designated length of time. Trusted contacts will receive an email with the subject line and message written by the user during setup. This is the only notification they'll receive — they will not receive any notifications at the time of setup and will not receive more than one email following the period of inactivity.
If you have selected to share data with the trusted contact, the email will also contain a list of the data shared with them, and a link to access and download that information.
What happens if I do not designate an Inactive Account Manager?
If you do not have an Inactive Account Manager set up, Google provides an option for immediate family members, legal representatives or executors to close the account of a deceased Google user and retrieve specific data or access funds connected to the account.
The process involves completing a form and submitting supporting documents that verify the validity of the request. Click here to learn more about this process, which also applies to YouTube accounts.
If you do not designate an Inactive Account Manager and Google does not receive a request for access to your account from anyone, Google reserves the right to delete an inactive Google Account and its activity and data if the account has inactivity for at least two years.
LinkedIn allows people to report that a user is deceased and request to have their profile removed. The process is subject to review and requires requesters to provide information about the deceased user in addition to a link to their obituary.
To learn more about LinkedIn’s procedures for removing an account after a user dies, click here.
Instagram And threads
Instagram and Threads — both owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook — provide options for handling a user’s account after death. However, unlike Facebook, they do not allow users to designate Legacy Contacts or determine in advance what happens to their account afer death.
What happens to an Instagram or Threads account after a user's death?
There are two options for Instagram and Threads accounts after a user's death: the account can be memorialized or deleted permanently. Both options must be initiated by the request of a loved one following the user's death.
Memorialization: A verified request can turn the account into a memorial page. The account remains visible, with the following changes:
- The word 'Remembering' will be shown next to the person's name on their profile.
- Any posts shared prior to death, including photos and videos, stay on Instagram and are visible to the audience they were shared with.
- Memorialized accounts don't appear in certain places on Instagram.
- No one can log into a memorialized account.
Deletion: A verified family member or legal representative can request permanent account removal.
How do you memorialize or request removal of an Instagram or Threads account?
To memorialize someone's Instagram or Threads account, a family member must submit a request to memorialize the account. The request form must include proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or news article.
To request the permanent deletion or removal of a user's Instagram or Threads account, family members must fill out this form, providing certain documentation of proof of death and that you're an immediate family member or appointed representative of the deceased person.
Click here to learn more about the options and verification process for Instagram and Threads accounts.
Family members can request to have a Pinterest user’s account deactivated. To submit a request, a family member should email the Pinterest user support team and provide details about the person (such as full name and account link), as well as documentation of the person’s death and relationship to the submitter of the request.
For complete request requirements and contact details, click here.
Apple ID
If you own an Apple device, you can now set a Legacy Contact of choice, and you can designate more than one legacy contact. A legacy contact is someone you choose to have access to the data in your Apple account after your death.
Designating a Legacy Contact
Apple users are able to designate one or more trusted contacts to access their account following death. Through the Apple Account Settings found on an iPhone, iPad or Mac device, users can go through the steps to designate their preferred legacy contacts. The setup process includes sharing an access key with legacy contacts.
The access key is extremely important — your legacy contact must have both the access key and your death certificate to request access after you pass away. Legacy contacts can start a request right on your device or on the Digital Legacy - Request Access page.
If a legacy contact does not have the access key, there are still options for requesting access to or deleting a family member's account.
What information can a designated Legacy Contact access?
A Legacy Contact can access almost all of your account data, like photos, messages, notes and files. However, certain content, such as purchased media and information stored in your Keychain is not shared. Users also cannot specify which data they'd like to share. The contact won’t even need your Apple ID or an Apple device to be your Legacy Contact; they will just need your death certificate and the access key that you generated when you chose them as your Legacy Contact.
Click here to learn more about Apple's legacy contact options.
Changing or deleting a social media account after a person dies often requires family members to act. That’s why it’s important to ensure your loved ones are aware of your accounts and know if you would like them to be deleted or, if available, memorialized. Sharing these preferences, in addition to working with a reputable funeral home to create an advance funeral plan, will remove decision-making burdens from your family and help ensure your wishes are met.
