Facebook has reversed its policy on what happens to a person's page once they die. From today, the page will retain the same settings as when the person was alive. Previously, the 'memorialised' pages were only visible to the deceased's friends. The Facebook team said they decided to make a dramatic change to their policy to reflect a user's privacy settings in life . Facebook said it was making the changes after consulting with users. 'Some of the people who reach out to us are grieving the death of a friend or family member, and they usually ask for their loved one's timeline to be memorialized. 'Over the past several months, we've been thinking about and working on better ways for people to remember loved ones. 'As we continue to think through each aspect of memorialization, we ask ourselves questions that have no easy answers: How might people feel? Are we honoring the wishes and legacy of the person who passed away? Are we serving people who are grieving the loss of a loved one as best we can?' The team said they decided to make a dramatic change to their policy. 'Up to now, when a person's account was memorialized, we restricted its visibility to friends-only. 'This meant that people could no longer see the account or any of its content unless they were Facebook friends with the person who passed away. 'Starting today, we will maintain the visibility of a person's content as-is. 'This will allow people to see memorialized profiles in a manner consistent with the deceased person's expectations of privacy. Facebook said it was making the changes after consulting with users who had suffered bereavements . 'We are respecting the choices a person made in life while giving their extended community of family and friends ongoing visibility to the same content they could always see.' The firm also said it would offer families the opportunity to see a person's “Look Back” video. 'In recognition of our ten-year anniversary, a group of our engineers created personal movies for people using some of the posts and photos they had shared over the years. 'For one man in Missouri, the Look Back video he was most desperate to watch was one that had not yet been made. 'John Berlin reached out to ask if it was possible for Facebook to create a video for his son, Jesse, who passed away in 2012. 'We had not initially made the videos for memorialized accounts, but John's request touched the hearts of everyone who heard it, including ours. 'Since then, many others have asked us to share the Look Back videos of their loved ones, too, and we're now glad to be able to fulfill those requests.' Facebook said it was planning to improve the way it deals with deceased user in the future.
New policy reverses the previously decison to only allow friends to see a profile .
Facebook says it consulted with users over the decision .
Firm also set to offer 'look back' videos recalling a users life .
Facebook has reversed its policy on what happens to a person's page once they die. From today, the page will retain the same settings as when the person was alive. Previously, the 'memorialised' pages were only visible to the deceased's friends. The Facebook team said they decided to make a dramatic change to their policy to reflect a user's privacy settings in life . Facebook said it was making the changes after consulting with users. 'Some of the people who reach out to us are grieving the death of a friend or family member, and they usually ask for their loved one's timeline to be memorialized. 'Over the past several months, we've been thinking about and working on better ways for people to remember loved ones. 'As we continue to think through each aspect of memorialization, we ask ourselves questions that have no easy answers: How might people feel? Are we honoring the wishes and legacy of the person who passed away? Are we serving people who are grieving the loss of a loved one as best we can?' The team said they decided to make a dramatic change to their policy. 'Up to now, when a person's account was memorialized, we restricted its visibility to friends-only. 'This meant that people could no longer see the account or any of its content unless they were Facebook friends with the person who passed away. 'Starting today, we will maintain the visibility of a person's content as-is. 'This will allow people to see memorialized profiles in a manner consistent with the deceased person's expectations of privacy. Facebook said it was making the changes after consulting with users who had suffered bereavements . 'We are respecting the choices a person made in life while giving their extended community of family and friends ongoing visibility to the same content they could always see.' The firm also said it would offer families the opportunity to see a person's “Look Back” video. 'In recognition of our ten-year anniversary, a group of our engineers created personal movies for people using some of the posts and photos they had shared over the years. 'For one man in Missouri, the Look Back video he was most desperate to watch was one that had not yet been made. 'John Berlin reached out to ask if it was possible for Facebook to create a video for his son, Jesse, who passed away in 2012. 'We had not initially made the videos for memorialized accounts, but John's request touched the hearts of everyone who heard it, including ours. 'Since then, many others have asked us to share the Look Back videos of their loved ones, too, and we're now glad to be able to fulfill those requests.' Facebook said it was planning to improve the way it deals with deceased user in the future.
a user's privacy settings in life . Facebook said consulting with users who had suffered see.' The firm also said it would offer families the opportunity to see a person's “Look Back” posts and photos they had shared over the years.