YouTubers concerned after Instagram claims they’re dead with “memorialized” accounts

A few of the UK’s top YouTubers are being marked as deceased by Instagram and are unable to access their accounts — but they’re still managing to find humor in the odd situation.

In the age of social media, users are bound to run into bugs every now and again while scrolling through their feeds. However, some bugs are more startling than others — especially when they claim you’re dead.

That’s exactly what happened to popular British YouTubers Theo Baker and Jack “JackSucksAtLife” Welsh on May 4, who were suddenly alerted that they’d been marked as deceased by Instagram.

The two were met with a message upon trying to access their accounts, which read: “Your account is in a special memorialized state. If you think this is a mistake, please let us know and we’ll investigate.”

From the outside, their profiles are specifically marked as memorialized, with the word “Remembering” placed above their names.

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Luckily, both Baker and Jack aren’t taking the issue too seriously, with both YouTubers poking fun at the incredibly odd situation with a few jokey posts.

“Right, who’s told Instagram I’m dead?” Baker asked while sharing a screenshot of his Instagram profile.

“Just woke up and found out I’ve died,” Jake said in his own post before admitting he was “actually concerned” he might be dead, after looking into exactly what it takes to mark an account as belonging to a deceased person.

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According to Instagram, the platform requires proof of death, such as a link to an obituary or news article. Unfortunately, to remove the account, one needs to present the deceased person’s birth certificate, making removal an intimate and highly serious affair.

Jack and Theo aren’t the only influencers being met with the bug, either; James Mariott has similarly been hit with the same issue, which didn’t stop him from making a humorous jab at the situation.

For now, there’s no word on whether or not the YouTubers’ accounts have been compromised or if it’s merely a glitch in the system — but either way, it’s definitely a strange matter that fans hope gets resolved sooner rather than later.