Is memorializing a deceased person's social media account the same as an executor gaining legal access to it?

No, and this is a distinction worth understanding clearly. Memorializing an account is a feature some platforms offer as a matter of their own policy — it typically freezes the account in a commemorative state so others can no longer log in and change it, but it does not give an executor any legal authority over the account or its content. Legal authority to deal with a deceased person's property, including digital accounts, comes from being validly appointed as estate trustee under Ontario law (via a will or, without one, through the Estates Act process), not from anything a social media company decides to do with the profile.

Because there is no Ontario statute directly addressing social media accounts, what an executor can actually obtain — full login access, downloaded content, account closure, or nothing at all — depends entirely on the platform's own terms of service and support process. Some platforms offer a limited data-download option to a verified next of kin without full account access; others offer very little. An executor should treat "memorialized" as a description of what happened to the public-facing profile, not as confirmation that they now control it, and should contact the platform directly to find out what is actually available.