Instagram has introduced a new update that allows users in Israel to designate a memorial contact, enabling someone to manage certain aspects of their account after their death, Meta announced on Tuesday.
The update comes almost a decade after Facebook first introduced this tool. It is designed to help users navigate loss in the digital world.
The memorial contact cannot post on behalf of the deceased, access private messages, or reactivate the account. However, they will be able to update the profile picture and download copies of public content, depending on the privacy settings of the account.
Accounts can be memorialized
Additionally, a deceased user's account can be memorialized. This means the account will be locked, and the word "Remembering" will appear next to the user's name.
Memorialized accounts will serve as a digital memorial where friends and family can share messages, memories, and photos.
The company added that users can pre-select whether they would prefer their account to be permanently deleted after death.
Legislative initiative spearheaded by Shas MK
The introduction of this feature follows a legislative initiative spearheaded by Shas MK Erez Malul, who has been working to raise public awareness about the rights of users after death and to allow them to be memorialized on social media.
Meta's announcement indicates that the update demonstrates its commitment to providing sensitive tools to handle death, but the company did not provide specific data about the number of accounts memorialized or the requests for this service.
The update also applies to Facebook, which has allowed users to designate memorial contacts since 2015. Meta emphasized that users can update their memorial contact at any time according to their preferences.