Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

What Happens to Your Facebook Profile When You Die? You Can Now Decide.

You can now write your Facebook will.

Composite image by Re/code

You can now choose what happens to your Facebook profile when you die.

The social network rolled out an update Thursday that lets you assign a Facebook friend as a “legacy contact” to your account, essentially granting special access to the account in the case of your death. You can also choose to have your account deleted entirely.

legacy-contact_choose

This legacy contact will not be able to post on your behalf or see your private messages. They will, however, be able to download your Facebook archive, which includes all of your photos, and post a note that will remain pinned to the top of your profile page.

If you want your profile deleted, the company will honor that request and remove your photos, Timeline and past likes and comments (although some stuff like “log records” will remain).

Facebook has already memorialized profiles at the request of the deceased user’s family, and has done so for a number of years, said Vanessa Callison-Burch, a product manager at the company. That, of course, didn’t give users much control over what was done with their accounts, and the new update provides that option.

If you choose someone as your legacy contact, he or she will not be alerted to your decision until you’ve passed away, added Callison-Burch. The update is available only for U.S. users, but will expand internationally “soon,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady