Instagram Readies Memorial Account Feature In Response To COVID-19 Deaths

Source: (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty / (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As we head into May 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic is turning into a blur that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. While states like Georgia are opening back up at the request of its confused governor Brian Kemp other states aren’t following suit. While many who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 are still in shock one social media platform is planning to do their part to help the families of those loved ones remember them. Instagram is prepping to roll out a feature that will let you memorialize an Instagram account for someone who has passed away, according to Buzzfeednews.com.

“Instagram is speeding up plans for a new account memorialization feature, adding a “Remembering” banner under a username to signal that a person has died. “We’ve been working on these updates for some time, though this is one — among others — that we’ve accelerated in light of COVID-19 to help support our community during a difficult time,” Liza Crenshaw, a spokesperson for Instagram told BuzzFeed News.

Currently, you can memorialize someone’s Instagram account through a form on the Instagram site which is more of a preserve feature more than memorialization. The current feature stops the page from ever being deleted and will not allow anyone to access the account even if they have the password. The newer updated feature will work a little differently as you can see below.