What happens to social media accounts when someone dies in the UK?

Nothing happens by itself. When someone dies in the UK, every social media account they had stays exactly as it was until a person asks the platform to change it. The profile keeps appearing in searches and friend suggestions, the birthday reminder still goes out, and "memories" of old photos keep resurfacing for the people who knew them. For some families that is a comfort for a while. For most it becomes a problem, usually at the worst moment.

What happens if nobody does anything

• The profile stays public or friends-only, exactly as the person left it.
• Reminders continue: birthdays, anniversaries, "on this day" memories, friend suggestions to people who knew them.
• Anyone with the password, or anyone who guesses it, can log in. Accounts of people who have died are a target for scammers, who use them to message relatives asking for money.
• Some platforms eventually act on inactivity. WhatsApp deletes an account after 120 days without use. X has said it removes inactive accounts. Facebook and Instagram do not.
• Subscriptions attached to the accounts keep charging until the card fails.

What UK law says

Less than families expect. There is no UK law that gives a family or an executor a right to access a person's social media accounts, and the accounts themselves are governed by each platform's terms, which usually forbid anyone else logging in. What an executor does have is the authority to deal with the person's affairs, which the platforms recognise through their own processes: a grant of probate or letters of administration is accepted as proof of authority for removal requests. Tell Us Once, the government service offered when you register the death, notifies HMRC, the DWP, the DVLA and the council. It does not notify any private company, and it does not notify Facebook.

Platform by platform, as of September 2026

• Facebook: memorialise with proof of death, from anyone; remove with proof of immediate family or executor status. A legacy contact chosen by the person can look after a memorial. UK guide.
• Instagram: the same two routes, requested separately from Facebook. Instagram also offers a legacy contact and a "delete after death" setting. UK guide.
• Threads: follows the Instagram account.
• LinkedIn: memorialise with an obituary link, or close with the death certificate and proof of relationship. Guide.
• X (Twitter): deactivation for family or the executor, with the death certificate and your ID. No memorial state. Guide.
• TikTok: memorialise or delete, on a request from the family through TikTok's support form. Save the videos first. Guide.
• Snapchat: no memorial state. Snapchat only accepts a deletion request from the email address on the account, so a family that cannot reach that email cannot close it.
• Pinterest: email Pinterest with the profile link, proof of death and proof of your relationship, and the account is deactivated.
• Reddit: no formal process; a support request with proof of death can get the account deleted.
• YouTube: part of the Google Account. UK guide.
• WhatsApp: no memorial state; export the chats, then delete the account or let the 120 day rule run. Guide.

What memorialising does

On Facebook and Instagram, a memorialised profile shows "Remembering" next to the name, cannot be logged into by anyone, stops appearing in reminders and suggestions, and keeps the posts and photos visible to the people who could see them before. Friends can still post tributes on Facebook if the person's settings allowed it. It is the fastest way to make an account safe while the family decides, because anyone can request it with an obituary, and it does not stop a later removal.

Delete or memorialise?

Removal is usually right when the profile continuing to exist is distressing, when the person was private, or when the account has already been misused. Memorialisation usually makes more sense after a sudden or young death, when friends want somewhere to go, or when the family is divided, because it can be reversed and removal cannot. Most families end up with a mix: memorialise Facebook, remove the rest. Our decision guide goes through it properly, including what to save first.

What to do, in order

How long it takes

None of the platforms publishes a timescale. Memorialisation on Facebook or Instagram with clean proof is often done within days. Removal requests take longer, from a week to several weeks, and a request that has gone silent for a fortnight usually needs sending again. LinkedIn, X and TikTok take a few weeks. The smaller platforms depend on reaching a person in support.

Or let us do it for you

Departed Digital closes or memorialises every account for the family: the right request on each platform, the documents sent once, the resubmissions and the chasing, and a written record at the end. Packages start from £149.