What happens to your Facebook account if you pass away? by Carlos Paula Simões
Answer by Carlos Paula Simões:
We should prepare ourselves for such.
Regarding Facebook, the best thing to do is to nominate a “legacy contact”. A legacy contact is someone you choose to manage your account after you pass away. They'll be able to do things like pin a post on your Timeline, respond to new friend requests and update your profile picture. They won't post as you or see your messages.
I think this restriction – your messages will remain confidential – is quite appropriate… these are just a handful of the secrets we commonly hear people learning of after a death, some of it revealed by the correspondence with someone else:
The person who died . . .
Was in debt.
Was having or had an affair.
Had a previous marriage they kept secret.
Had other children that were kept a secret.
Was struggling with drugs or alcohol.
Had a problem with gambling.
Had been aware they were sick/dying and not told anyone.
Had not shared their true sexual orientation or gender identity.
But in case you don't want a Facebook account after you pass away, you can request to have your account permanently deleted instead of choosing a legacy contact.
