Facebook’s ‘Legacy Contact’ For When You Die Isn’t Available In Australia Yet

Worried about what will happen to your Facebook account when you die? There’s now an option where you can set a “Legacy Contact” who will be allowed to manage your account after your death — but at the moment Australians can’t use it.

Facebook’s general policy is to leave accounts “frozen” after someone dies — meaning they still exist but no settings can be changed. That doesn’t allow for much flexibility.

The new Legacy Contact option allows you to designate someone who will be allowed to manage your account after your demise. That person can post a memorial message, change the profile picture, and respond to any new friend requests. Legacy contacts can’t edit existing content or choose to delete the account, however.

That sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately it’s not yet a universal one. Facebook’s announcement says that the option only works for US accounts right now, but will be expanded to other countries “soon”. We’ll keep an eye out for when that happens.

Facebook [via WSJ via Gizmodo]


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