Google to delete inactive accounts

Google has stated that it will begin removing unused personal accounts that have not been accessed for at least two years.

Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, and Google Calendar are among the services affected, as is information in Google Workspace, YouTube, and Google Photos. However, Ruth Kricheli, Google’s Vice President of Product Management, guarantees that new policy applies solely to personal Google accounts and will not affect accounts for organizations such as schools or businesses.

Google plans to begin removing accounts in December, and they intend to do so “slowly and carefully, with plenty of notice.” Google will issue many reminders in the months leading up to the cancellation of an account. These emails will be delivered “to both the account email address and the recovery email address (if one has been provided).”

Google claims that abandoned accounts are at least ten times less likely than active accounts to have two-step verification enabled – and are thus frequently accessible to wrongdoers. Abandoned accounts frequently rely on obsolete or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, lack two-factor authentication, and are subjected to fewer security checks by the user. Once an account has been infiltrated, it can be exploited for anything from identity theft to serving as a conduit for undesired or malicious content, such as spam.

Google suggests signing in to your Google Account once every two years to keep your account alive and your images and material from being erased. Reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, downloading an app from the Google Play Store, using Google Search, or utilizing Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service are all instances of activities that will contribute towards keeping your account “active.”

Google suggests starting the cleaning process if you’re concerned about the destiny of your old documents, images, and other assets. It is also critical to supply a recovery email at sign-up and to keep this recovery email up to date in your account settings.

To keep your data safe, keep your account active by signing in once every two years and providing a recovery email.