Google Will Begin Deleting Dormant Accounts Later This Year

If you have a Google account that you haven’t used in a while but wish to keep, you should log in. The company stated that it will begin removing accounts that have been dormant for at least two years. Google describes it as a step to improve privacy, but it’s also simple to interpret it as a cost-cutting effort to free up storage on Google’s servers.

Anyone with an account that has been inactive for two years will receive an email alerting them that it will be terminated if they do not log in within 60 days, beginning later this year. You’ll have 60 days after deactivation to login in before the corporation permanently deletes it. So, in all, you’ll have around four months’ notice to regain your account, which seems acceptable. Google claims it would start erasing accounts in December 2023.

The organization will send warning emails to both the account in danger of deletion and any recovery emails you added. The deactivation and deletion will affect everything you use that account for, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, YouTube, Google Photos, Meet, and Calendar. It only applies to personal accounts, so work and school emails will be exempt

Although the company’s stated privacy motivation may be a handy way to avoid stating, “We want to save money,” it does have some validity to it. Aside from not having current passwords, abandoned accounts are ten times less likely to have two-factor authentication enabled, leaving them more open to hijacking. Google provides an online tool that can help you prevent account termination. The company’s Inactive Account Manager may alert you to inactive accounts more regularly while allowing you to determine what happens to your data. There, you may select trusted individuals to notify or even download your account data if it is about to be deactivated. And if it is ever removed, you may prepare by utilizing Google’s age-old Takeout tool, which allows you to see and export all of your data.