Although there is not an exact figure to cite, it is believed that there are an estimated 30 million deceased people on Facebook, and it is believed that by 2070 there will be more deceased people on Facebook than living!
With certain social media sites you can opt to have a legacy contact. What is a legacy contact I hear you ponder! A legacy contact is an individual you chose and they are granted access to the data held in that said account when you pass. This isn’t available on all socials but is on Facebook, their sister site Instagram and Apple. With a legacy contact someone will be granted access to your account to manage it when you pass away. With this access they can chose to either delete your account or they will have the option to turn it into a remembrance account. If you do have a legacy contact once they have taken your account on they will not be able to like, share or post anything from your account.
For social media sites that do not give the option to have a legacy contact or there hasn’t been one put into place you can contact the site directly. This is the case with ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Tiktok, Linkedin and Google (sorry Android users!). As long as the person reporting the death to them has your details, your death certificate and proof of their own ID they can have the account shut down, or memorialised.
Alternatively, you could write down your email(s) and your password(s) for the accounts you hold, to give to a close person or you could keep in a safe space which could be with your Will. Just don’t make it too safe or you’ll forget where it is!