Facebook updates memorialised accounts for decreased friends, family members

Facebook today revealed a set of updates for memorialised accounts, including a new “tributes section” that will appear at the top of deceased users timelines.

This means that, should you die, you will now have a dedicated tab on your Facebook profile where your friends and family can post tributes and messages for you.

The company is also expanding controls for legacy contacts, the friends or family members users can choose to memorialise and control their account if they should pass away.

“Legacy contacts can now moderate the posts shared to the new tributes section by changing tagging settings, removing tags and editing who can post and see posts,” the company said in a blog post.

The new controls allow legacy contacts to ensure that no insensitive material appears on the deceased’s profile.

Parents of children under 18 can now apply to be their child’s legacy contact as well, while only friends and family of deceased users can request to have an account memorialised.

Finally, Facebook is using AI to prevent triggering content about loved ones from appearing where it shouldn’t.

“If an account hasn’t yet been memorialised, we use AI to help keep it from showing up in places that might cause distress, like recommending that person be invited to events or sending a birthday reminder to their friends,” the company explained.

Facebook further noted that it is still working to improve AI efficiency in this regard.

Feature image: Facebook