Facebook to Users: Sorry About Glitch That Killed You

Killing off millions of users is as bad as a mistake as a website can make—but luckily for Facebook, it was reversible. The company apologized for a "terrible error" Friday that caused the profiles of many users—including Mark Zuckerberg—to be switched to the "memorialized" version used after people die, the BBC reports. "We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life," said the message under the "Remembering Mark Zuckerberg" banner. Pages are usually only memorialized after a user dies and friends or family request the change and provide proof of death.

Affected users scrambled to reassure friends and family that they were still alive, CBS reports. "Having a tough day today, but not dead, just in case Facebook tries to claim that I am," one user posted. Facebook said it had introduced a new message for memorialized pages and accidentally displayed it on the accounts of around 2 million living users. "We are very sorry that this happened and we worked as quickly as possible to fix it," a spokesman said. The Guardian notes that the blunder happened just two days after Zuckerberg insisted that fake news on Facebook played no role in people's voting decisions. (More Facebook stories.)