Google to delete inactive accounts, including content of Google Drive and YouTube- Should you worry?

In order to make Google accounts more safe and more secure, the company has announced to delete accounts that are being inactive for more than two years. Google announces new guidelines for accounts on its platform on Tuesday to update its inactivity policy. Any Google account that has not been used for at least 2 years will be deleted.

Accounts that have been inactive for an extended period of time are more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised.

“Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than the active ones to have 2-step verification set up. Meaning, these are often vulnerable, and once compromised, can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam,” Ruth Krichelli, Vice President, Product Management, said in an official blog post.

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Google’s new inactivity policy will start later this year. The company may delete the account and its contents including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Meet, Drive, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.

The new policy will only be applicable to personal Google accounts, and will not affect accounts for organisations like schools or businesses.

“This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information,” Google’s blog read.

Google says that the new plan will be rolled out carefully and gradually, with plenty of notice. Even though the new policy takes effect today, it will not immediately impact users with inactive accounts. As per Google, the earliest deletion of accounts will begin in December 2023.

Deleting of accounts will take place in a phased manner, starting with accounts that were once created and never used again.

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“Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email (if one has been provided),” Google clarified.

Here’s how you can keep your account active

In order to keep your account active, even if you don’t use it daily sign in at least every 2 years. If you have signed into your Google account or any of Google’s services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted.

The activity might include these types of actions when you sign in or while you’re signed in to your Google account:

-Reading or sending an email

-Using Google Drive

-Watching a YouTube video

-Downloading an app on the Google Play Store

-Using Google Search

-Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service

Creating a backup for your account

It is always better to have a recovery e-mail at sign-up to recover your account or its content whenever such a situation arises. Google’s Inactive Account Manager allows users to decide what happens to their account and data when it becomes inactive for a period of up to 18 months.

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