Instagram is speeding plans for its new memorialization feature in light of COVID-19 to help support its community during this deadly pandemic.
Instagram had been working on the feature for some time but plans were recently accelerated because too many users are dying during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As reported by Jane Manchun Wong, Instagram is working on a new account memorialization feature, adding a “Remembering” banner under the username to signal a person has died.
Instagram is working on account memorialization
disclaimer: I’m not actually dead, only in the inside pic.twitter.com/DVIDLLwTAk
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 20, 2020
“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.
Jane Manchun Wong also uncovered other new features, like a mute button. Although she had no further details to share on this for the moment.
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Memorialization preserves a users’ Instagram account so it doesn’t get deleted or altered. It can be found in search but will not show up in the Explore tab. It will also add a “Remembering” banner to signal to other users that the account has been memorialized and the person has died.
Facebook launched an account memorialization feature back in 2015.