In the aftermath of October 7 and as part of an Israeli initiative, Meta announced a series of important updates to its Memorialization Settings and Legacy Contact tools, including – for the first time – the option to appoint a legacy contact for Instagram as well.
These updates come in response to a legislative initiative led by Knesset Member Erez Malul (Shas) and reflect Meta’s commitment to developing accessible and sensitive tools for digital memorialization. From now on, Instagram users in Israel will be able to appoint a legacy contact – someone they trust – who will be able to manage certain parts of their account after their death. At the same time, Meta continues to improve the user-friendliness of memorialization tools on Facebook as well.
A memorialized account means that it becomes a space where friends and family can share memories after a person’s passing. The person's profile will display the phrase “Remembering,” and no one will be able to log into a memorialized account.
A legacy contact is the person appointed to manage an account in the event that it is memorialized. Their responsibilities include the ability to update the profile picture and download copies of content that was shared publicly, if this feature was enabled in advance. However, they cannot post or send messages on behalf of the deceased, nor can they read previous messages. The legacy contact can be changed at any time.
In addition, there is also an option to pre-select that the account be deleted entirely after death. Jordana Cutler, Meta’s Director of Public Policy for Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, said: “We understand how important it is for families and friends to memorialize their loved ones online. That’s why we launched legacy contacts on Facebook back in 2015, and now we are introducing this option on Instagram for the first time. We want to give people the ability to plan and allow their loved ones to manage and preserve their digital presence after their death. I would like to thank the Constitution Committee for leading and helping to raise public awareness on the issue of digital memorialization.”