Back in 2015, parent company Facebook rolled out an account memorialization feature that made it possible for user’s family and close friends to memorialize account if they die.

However…

The feature was excessively abused in the name of prank and many of the Facebook users memorialized their friend’s accounts just for fun.

Facebook soon paid attention to this and made it a compulsion for users to submit a death-proof for an account to be memorialized.

The same feature is now all set to roll out on Instagram too in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that took away thousands of lives.

Post this feature rolls out, YOU will notice a ‘Remembering’ banner under the username of the person who lost their lives during this phase and is no longer in this world.

Liza Crenshaw, a spokesperson for Instagram told BuzzFeed News– “We’ve been working on these updates for some time, though this is one — among others — that we’ve accelerated in light of COVID-19 to help support our community during a difficult time,”

The feature was first spotted by Jane Manchung Wong, a reverse engineer from Hong Kong, who finds unreleased features and security vulnerabilities inside popular web applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

Jane additionally shared a screenshot of her account of how it would all look like post-release which was later confirmed via “Instagram Comms” (an official account of Instagram’s PR team).

Instagram is quite serious about user’s privacy and understands the seriousness of the current situation. It is the reason it has made the feature usable only for family members and close ones who can memorialize a dead person’s account by showing a death certificate.

Following an account is memorialized, Instagram would preserve the profile so it never gets deleted or accessed by someone else (even if they have the right password).

Moreover, the memorialized account won’t show up in the explore section anymore.

The followers of the account, however, can still send messages (although no one would be reading them!)

There would be a permanent ‘Remembering’ banner under the account holder’s name so the visitors of the account know that the account is memorialized and the user is no more.

Furthermore, no one would be able to make any changes to any of the account’s existing post or information.

Instagram clarified on its official site about the effects of this feature on accounts that are memorialized. It mentioned-

Once an account is memorialized, no one will be able to make changes to any of the account’s existing posts or information. This means no changes to the following:

• Photos or videos added by the person to their profile.
• Comments on posts shared by the person to their profile.
• Privacy settings of their profile.
• The current profile photo, followers, or people the person follows.

There is an alternative that Instagram laid down for those who don’t want their late family member’s account to be available on the platform.

For such cases, family members can ask Instagram to remove the profile from the platform.

While submitting a request for removal, Instagram requires proof that you are an immediate family member of the deceased person. Some of those as mentioned on the official site are as below-

• The deceased person’s birth certificate.
• The deceased person’s death certificate.
• Proof of authority under local law that you are the lawful representative of the deceased person or his/her estate.

Although I wish and pray you never have to use these options above ever in your life and have a prosperous life.

However…

For reporting an account to be memorialized, here is the contact form-

On one side Instagram’s current initiative is quite praiseworthy, YOU can’t ignore the evildoers on the other side.

The company although, is quite strict with the policy and execution, there are always some people who find a way to fake it all and derive fun out of any situation.

So there are chances (although very tiny) that some wicked mind manipulates the platform into believing that your account needs to be memorialized.

Unfortunately, if it turned up, you won’t be able to access your account in any way shape, or form.

Moreover, people who are not in regular contact with you might think it’s true.

YOU need NOT WORRY though!!!

Instagram created a form for such queries as well where a person’s account was mistakenly memorialized.

If you are one of those whose accounts are memorialized by mistake, please use the form below to report Instagram about it and get it back.

The ‘Remembering’ feature would not only preserve the memories of the person on the platform but also would prevent others from accessing the account even with the password.

Initially, the accounts which were inactive for a long time were more prone to get deleted after an algorithm update; however, the current feature would preserve the accounts forever on the platform.

If I have put it all in one line I would say- “The accounts would become unhackable and undeletable forever.”

No brute-force attacks.

No phishing!

No deletion.

Nothing!

Indeed worth appreciating.

Right?

Let me know in the comments down below about your views and suggestions.

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Till then?

See you next time:)

Stay safe!

And?

Bye-bye!