Google has re-echoed its alarm to the teeming legion of users of its services, especially holders of Gmail emails, and all personal Google accounts that have been left dormant for at least two years, will before January 2024 get/be deleted.
Google which has since early in the year been sounding the warning to users said in a recent statement that beginning from next month, December 2023, it will begin deleting millions of Gmail accounts as part of a major overhaul of the platform.
Google’s vice president, Ruth Kricheli, wrote in a blog post, “We are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years across our products.”
She further explained in her post that, “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.”
By the letters and the spirit of Ruth’s post on behalf of Google, the purge will impact all personal Google accounts that have been left dormant for at least two years.
Succinctly put, to be affected are emails, documents, spreadsheets, calendar appointments, photos, and videos will all be permanently deleted.
Google in its earlier statement explained that any account at risk of deletion will receive “multiple notifications” before any action is taken, including to any associated recovery email addresses.
The tech giant while given the rationale for the decision said the move is aimed at protecting active Google users from security threats like phishing scams, and account hijacking.
It further made known that, Old accounts that have not been used for years are typically at risk from hackers as they may use the same passwords that have been compromised in other security breaches, which are easily available on the dark web.
Some of the affected account owners claimed to have received emails from Google telling users the move is “to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services”.
However, another challenge that could arise from losing access to a Gmail account could also potentially prevent people from using other online platforms and services that are associated with that email address, even if they are not related to Google.
In order to keep an account active and avoid being deleted, Google users are advised to open or send an email, use Google Drive, download an app on the Google Play Store, or simply make a Google Search while logged in to the account.
Any account that has posted a video to YouTube will also not be impacted, regardless of when it was last active.
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