Can you pass on your Facebook account when you die?
Meta Platforms reviews requests about a Facebook account after a death case by case. While alive, the account holder can use authorized users.
Protecting Facebook accounts while the account is active
Beneficiary designation available, lifetime transfer options for accounts, and 10-step plan.
How to protect your Facebook account while you are alive →Someone died. Handling Facebook accounts after a death
Transfer is handled on a case-by-case basis, 6-step process, and 8 required documents.
What happens to a Facebook account when someone dies →Facebook is the world's largest social network. A profile can hold photos, videos, posts, private messages, Pages, Groups, Marketplace activity, ad account balances and creator monetization earnings. Meta also operates Instagram and WhatsApp and unifies those identities through Accounts Center.
Meta Platforms decides what happens to a Facebook account after a death case by case; its terms promise no transfer. While the account holder is alive, Meta Platforms allows authorized users.
What happens to Facebook at death
- Case by case
Facebook offers two outcomes for a deceased person's profile, memorialization or permanent deletion. Memorialization is the default: if the holder did not choose "Delete after death," the main profile is memorialized when Meta becomes aware of the death.1
Naming who acts after a death
- Legacy contact
The holder can designate a legacy contact to manage the profile if it is memorialized. The setting is available only for the main profile, not additional Facebook profiles, and a minor cannot select a legacy contact.2, 3
Other companies and product lines involved3
Meta Platforms publishes its own process for a deceased person's account: Meta memorialization, removal, and deceased-account content requests; a request goes in through Meta Platforms' online form. Facebook lets the account holder name, in advance, who may act on the account after a death, through Legacy contact.
Sources
Data sourced from Meta Platforms, Inc. primary sources (18 pages reviewed). How we research.
Facebook customer support
Facebook Help Center
Website
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