My friend recently lost his battle with COVID-19. In the wake, one of our mutual friends suddenly appeared shocked while checking his Facebook Messenger. He had just received a notification indicating that our departed friend had made a new post on Facebook.

We quickly verified the situation and were relieved to discover that a family member with access to his phone had posted the funeral arrangements. Nonetheless, it served as a reminder that a person's social media presence can linger even after passing, accessible to those with the right credentials.

Given this, ensuring your Facebook account is secure is crucial, limiting access solely to authorized individuals. This becomes particularly significant if you have friends or family who have access to your devices like phones or computers.

If you are confused about what to do about your loved one's Facebook account who passed away, You can either request Facebook to memorialize or delete the account. When someone dies, their Facebook account can go into a "Memorialized" state. The person's friends and family can still post tributes and messages on their wall, and their profile will still be visible, but no new posts or comments can be added.  

If you wish to memorialize the account of your departed loved ones, you can request that Facebook memorialize the account. To do this, you must provide documentation to confirm that you are an immediate family member or executor of the account holder's estate.

To request Facebook to memorialize or delete an account for someone who has passed away, go to the Facebook Help Center at https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/228813257197480. Once there, click "Report a deceased person or a Facebook account that needs to be memorialized." Complete the subsequent form and attach any necessary documentation. Finally, click the "Submit" button to complete the process.

Facebook will review your request and memorialize the account if they are satisfied that the person has passed away and you have the authority to make the request. You can also use the link above to request Facebook to delete an account of someone medically incapacitated.

Facebook said memorialized accounts are a place for friends and family to gather and share memories after a person has passed away. Memorializing an account also helps keep it secure by preventing anyone from logging in.

Facebook further said the company's policy is to memorialize an account for someone who has passed away if a valid request is received. The social media giant, however, will not provide login information for someone else's account, even under these circumstances. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said it is always against its policies to log in to another person's account, even if that person has already passed away.

If you want FB to memorialize or delete your account automatically, you can take a few steps to prepare. First, ensure your contact information is current so Facebook can notify your loved ones if something happens to you. Second, choose a trusted friend or family member as your legacy contact. A legacy contact is someone you choose to look after your main profile if it's memorialized after you've passed away. If you add a legacy contact, that person can decide about your main profile once it has been memorialized. And finally, think about what you want to happen to your account after you die. Do you want it to be memorialized or deleted?

Once an account is memorialized, the following changes will take place:

1. The word Remembering will be shown on their profile.
   Depending on the privacy settings of the account, friends can share memories on the memorialized timeline
2. Content that the person shared (e.g. photos, posts) stays on Facebook and is visible to the audience it was shared with.
3. Memorialized profiles don't appear in public spaces, such as in suggestions for People you may know, ads or birthday reminders.
4. No one can log in to a memorialized account
   Memorialized accounts that don't have a legacy contact can't be changed.
5. Pages with a sole admin whose account was memorialized will be removed from Facebook.

The digital age further complicates the emotional and practical complexities surrounding the death of a loved one. Choosing to memorialize a Facebook account is more than just a digital formality; it's an act of remembrance and a safeguard against unauthorized use. The utility of memorialization serves dual purposes. On the one hand, it provides a secure and respectful space where the bereaved can continue to honor the deceased. Facebook's memorialized state ensures that the account remains a dedicated place for remembrance without the possibility of new posts or comments from that account, ruling out the potential for uncomfortable or inappropriate activity.

On the other hand, memorializing an account is a matter of digital security. By locking the account and restricting any new logins, you are ensuring that the digital identity of your departed loved one remains intact and respectful while protecting against possible misuse. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has policies that underline the importance of these considerations, explicitly disallowing any login to another person's account, deceased or otherwise.

While memorializing a Facebook account might seem odd to some, it is a thoughtful, necessary provision in our digital age. It combines the human need to remember and pay respects with the pragmatism required to secure one's digital identity after death. By memorializing an account, we preserve the dignity and memory of the departed and offer comfort and closure to those left behind, who can continue to connect, remember, and find solace in a collective digital mourning space.