Although no date of release has been set, Instagram is currently working on a memorialization feature that sadly ties in with our current global pandemic.
The feature would come in the form of a “Remembering” banner underneath a username that would signal if a person had passed away. The idea behind the memorial didn’t start with the current pandemic, but work on it has “accelerated in light of COVID-19 to help support our community during a difficult time,” as Liza Crenshaw, a spokesperson for Instagram, told BuzzFeed News.
You can currently memorialize a person’s account if they’ve passed away; the social media site requires proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or news article. Immediate family members can also request an account be removed. But as Instagram notes in its help section, “We have fewer people available to review reports because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which means it may take us additional time to memorialize or delete the account you requested.”
Facebook has had a memorialization feature since 2015, but Twitter does not currently have one.
The account memorialization feature on Instagram was originally uncovered by researcher Jane Manchun Wong and posted on Twitter.
Instagram continues working on account memorialization
adds this sheet of “Remembering <user>”
The link in this sheet brings us to Instagram’s Help Center page on this topic: https://t.co/0Ztal3Vxh5 pic.twitter.com/3xHvmGH9MW
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 21, 2020
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