Memorialising a social media account when someone dies
Robbie Malinga's son took over his late father's Instagram account to show off what he is doing with his inheritance.
It's not an unfamiliar trend, taking control of your late family or friend's social media accounts and paying tribute to them, but Robbie Malinga's 17-year-old son is putting his own twist on remembering his father.
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Robbie Malinga Jnr has caused a little storm over some of the content he has chosen to post. It all began with a video of him stepping out of a luxury car and announcing that he will be taking over the verified account, which has since been about his cool clothing and very expensive cars.
Since his takeover, there has been no mention of his father.
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I get taking over the social media account of a loved one, almost as a healing mechanism, but I feel that it needs to be done respectfully.
Personally, if my mom has a social media account and she passed on, I would not take over the account, make myself the profile picture, and then post myself riding in a 14-seater limousine.
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This young guy's actions feel like arrogance to me and not respect.
Based on the comments he has been receiving, I am not alone here:
Robbie Malinga Jnr is proof that ghosts money can drive one crazy 😂
— but (@TheyCallmeLu_) May 27, 2018
Robbie Malinga Jnr inherited his father's IG account. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ZidGjlB50t
— Tempy Pusha (@Gert_LeNinja) May 27, 2018
Robbie Malinga's son reminds me of Bongani Fassie that was left with R40 million and a house....he blew all of it in less than 20 years....Robbie Malinga's friend must speak to the boy.
— KanyoSinyanya (@KanyoSinyanya) May 27, 2018
According to Facebook, you are allowed to memorialise someone's account in the following way:
"Memorialising the account keeps the account active, but it will no longer be searchable, accept new ‘friends’ nor appear in ‘People You May Know’ boxes, nor can anyone log in to the profile. It has the word ‘Remembering’ next to the name, and is a good place for friends to share memories or see existing posts or photos the deceased has shared with friends."
In the memorialised state, sensitive information such as status updates and contact information is removed from the profile, while privacy settings on the account are changed so that only confirmed, existing friends can see the profile or locate it in Facebook’s internal search engine.
Would you grant access to a loved one to run your social media accounts when you pass on?