Facebook has become a virtual memorial with more than 30 million accounts belonging to people who have passed away, according to a 2012 HuffPost report.

It is hard to keep up with who dies, however, some accounts shut down by friends and family who have access to passwords or prove their relationship to the dead by an obituary or death certificate, or by social media companies because of inactivity.

Facebook cannot shut down such accounts unless there are specific requests from families, although it is plausible that dead people’s accounts should be accessible.

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