There was quite a shock Friday afternoon as many people checked their Facebook profiles, only to see that their profile (like mine) had been memorialized, meaning that they were no longer alive:
A quick search on Twitter found that several others were facing the same issue:
It has been brought to my attention that I am dead, thank you for the heads up @facebook pic.twitter.com/nDdaIrzohY
— Dacre (@jpa_f1) November 11, 2016
Even the profile of the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg had been memorialized:
Zuck dead pic.twitter.com/J8y5LbfQBz
— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) November 11, 2016
Of course, once everyone figured out it was a bug, the jokes started rolling in:
Mark Zuckerberg: What should we do after Facebook Live?
Facebook Exec: Facebook Dead?
Mark Zuckerberg: Bingo.
— #1 samir (@samir) November 11, 2016
God is dead. – Nietzche, 1883
Nietzche is dead. – God, 1900
Everyone is dead. – Facebook, 2016
— Ryan Calo (@rcalo) November 11, 2016
If Facebook declares me dead do I not have to pay my student loans?
— Emily LaFroscia (@EmilyofSuburbia) November 11, 2016
The issue has been covered by The Verge, Buzzfeed, and other outlets and appears to be a widespread bug as thousands have reported their own “death.”
Gizmodo is also reporting that real memorialized accounts have been going back to “regular” profiles status, whereas falsely memorialized accounts have been brought back to life. Additionally, some people are seeing their account go back to normal (like mine is now), but then other friends who didn’t have a memorialized account are now seeing the alert pop up on their profile.
Ironically, this issue speaks to a few episodes of this season of South Park that treated a few characters as dead when they decided to quit social media:
After SEJ Social Producer Caitlin Rulien and I were resurrected, I left her this note:
We encourage everything to take this second chance at life and go volunteer, pet your dog, or hug your family and friends. ❤️
The story is developing and we will update this article if and when we get more information.
Screenshots taken by author Nov. 2016. Featured image via Pixabay.
