Facebook bug:

 An unusual bug on Facebook labelled many people as dead.

On Friday the error caused the social network to show a memorial banner on user 's profiles for people who are still alive.

Users posted status updates to friends and family to reassure  they were not dead despite Facebook's message.

"This was a terrible error that we have now fixed," a Facebook spokesperson said. "We are very sorry that this happened."

The message erroneously appeared on the profile pages of a large number of users - including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the things others share to remember and celebrate his life," the banner on his page read.