Google to delete inactive accounts December 1

As Google ramps up its security measures, the company is deleting inactive accounts that haven’t been touched for two years as a way of protecting users from security threats such as identity theft, unwanted spam, and scams.

Starting December 1, 2023, Google is removing unattended accounts, including all photos, Drive documents, contacts, e-mails, and calendar entries. The tech giant announced the change to its inactivity policy back in May.

Google explained in a blog post that inactive accounts are “more likely to be compromised” since they could use old or re-used passwords and two-factor authentication may not be set up. The company said it would take a phased approach. The first batch of accounts to go will be the ones that were created and then never used again.

A Google account gives users access to most Google products, such as email service Gmail and video-sharing site YouTube, using the same username and password.

Google’s new inactivity policy only applies to users with personal accounts, so it won’t affect people with school or business accounts.

How to save your account

In a lot of cases, signing in should be enough to keep your Google account active for another two years. Google also said reading or sending an email using Google Drive or watching a YouTube video could help.

Also Read: Google To Deepen Partnership With NITDA

Once you log in, having an accessible recovery email address associated with your account is a good idea; this means you’ll be able to receive the notifications.

Google said that both affected accounts as well as their recovery email addresses have been emailed to warn of impending deletion.

Separately, people are being warned they will need to specifically sign in to Google Photos every two years to be considered active, which will ensure your photos and other content are not deleted. Again, you will receive a warning.

Google accounts created for someone by their work or school will be unaffected by the deletion policy, the firm said.

Accounts that have bought an ongoing Google service or subscription or are used to manage a child’s active account using Google’s Family Link feature are among those that may be considered actively used and exempt from the deletion policy.

Users should not worry if they have signed into their accounts recently, as that means they are considered active and will not be deleted.