Facebook 'memorialises' profiles

It follows some cases of members receiving updates about dead friends.

If a user is reported as deceased, Facebook will remove sensitive information such as status updates and contacts.

When reporting a death, users must offer "proof" by submitting either an obituary or news article.

"When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network," Max Kelly, head of security at the firm, wrote in the official Facebook blog. "

To reflect that reality, we created the idea of "memorialised" profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed."

Memorialised accounts will have new privacy settings so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search.