Facebook is on of the most popular social media platforms. With around million users in the Philippines, the website serves as one of the primary ways to communicate with loved ones. A person might have their own preferences for what happens to their account when they pass away.
But unless a family member or friend notifies Facebook of their loved one's death, their accounts won't be memorialized. You can contact Facebook and request for the memorialization of the dead's account through this link.
What is Legacy Contact?
You can choose a legacy contact to make it easier for your loved ones to handle your account once you pass away. A legacy contact is a person who will take care of your account after its memorialization.
Legacy Contacts can do the following:
- download an archive of your Facebook activities
- share final messages
- View all past posts
- decide who will be able to see and post tributes
- delete unwanted tribute posts
- change privacy settings
Legacy contacts can't:
- Log in to account.
- Access private messages
- Remove any friends or make new friend requests.
The Legacy Contact can do many more, but Facebook requires proof of the account holder's death before giving further access to the account. Confirmation can be through a memorialization request form or their obituary.
To assign a Legacy Contact,
- Talk to your chosen Legacy Contact.
- Explain what want them to do and not do.
- Share what you want for them to post and pin it to the top of your profile for your friends and followers to read. If any, inform them about people you do not want to post a tribute on your profile.
- Open Settings and click Memorialization Settings. A list of the activities that a Legacy Contact can do can be seen on this page. Input the name of the friend whom you want to be your Legacy Contact. They will be notified of your request and will have to approve it.
Request for Deletion
An option to request the deletion of your account once you pass away is also available at the bottom of the page. This will delete your entire account, including messages, pictures, and other information.
If the deceased person does not have a Legacy Contact, immediate family members may opt to request for the deletion of the deceased’s account through this link.
In this link, you need to secure the following details to process the deletion of the account:
- Your full name
- Your contact email
- Full name on the person's profile
- Link (URL) to the person's profile
- Account's email address
You can request to either memorialize or delete the account because the owner is dead or remove the account because the account owner is medically incapacitated.
Memorialization of the Account
Memorialized accounts of those who died serve as a place for friends and family to gather and exchange recollections. The following are seen in memorialized accounts:
- On the person's profile, the term “Remembering” will appear next to their name. Friends can contribute memories on the memorialized timeline depending on the account's privacy settings.
- The person's shared content (e.g., photographs, posts) remains on Facebook and is available to the audience with whom it was shared with.
- Memorialized profiles don't show in public areas, such as suggestions for People You May Know, advertisements, or birthday reminders.
- No one will be able to log into the memorialized account.
- Accounts that haven't been memorialized and don't have a legacy contact can't be altered.
- If a legitimate request is received, Facebook will delete a page whose only admin’s account has been memorialized.
Take note that Facebook may require various documents for verification purposes:
- Power of attorney.
- Birth certificate.
- Last will and testament.
- Estate letter.
- Obituary.
You can manage a memorialized account if you are a legacy contact by going to the memorialized account and clicking on the Manage button in the lower right corner of the cover photo. Legacy contacts can add a pinned post, accept or reject new friend requests, and change the profile and cover photo of the account.
If you have concerns about handling a memorialized page as a legacy contact, you may access Facebook's FAQs page here.
For memorialization requests, provide the following through this link:
- Name of the deceased person
- When did they pass away?
- Documentation of death
- Your email address
Sources
Managing a Deceased Person’s Account. (n.d.). Facebook. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/help/275013292838654/?helpref=hc_fnav
Tantuco, V. (2018, October 26). Did you know that some PH cities have more Facebook users than actual population? Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/list-philippines-cities-more-facebook-users-than-population
