Google is Deleting Inactive Accounts: Here is how to Save Yours

Google is introducing a new policy regarding Inactive Google Accounts, where Google Is Deleting Inactive Accounts that have not been used or signed into for at least 2 years will be deleted.

Google has recently announced a significant policy update to improve user security and reducing the risk associated with inactive accounts from being used for spamming or identity theft etc. And to mitigate this bigger issue the tech giant will start deleting Google accounts that have remained unused or unsigned into for at least two years. Google reserves the right to delete an inactive Google Account along with its associated activity and data if the accounts were remaining inactivity for two years across Google services.

What is new Inactive Google Account Policy?

Google will start deleting inactive accounts those are not used or sign in into for last 2 years will be deleted. Account deletion will start from the accounts those are created once and never used again. This policy will be implemented from December 2023. Google will delete the account and all of its content across all google services including- Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos etc. For now, this new policy only applies to personal accounts and will not affect business accounts and accounts with YouTube videos. To avoid this and prevent accounts from auto deletion Google has started sending multiple emails every month to inactive accounts and to their recovery email address.

Why is Google deleting inactive accounts?

Google is planning to delete its inactive accounts those are remain active from at least last 2 years to improve the security and to protect users from security threats, like spam, phishing scams and account hijacking. Because as per the Google’s internal analysis abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely to have 2-step-verification set up than active accounts.

These accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that make them vulnerable and easy to be compromised. Once an older account is getting compromised, then it can be used for anything from spamming to phishing. To reducing this risk, Google is updating ‘Inactive Google Account Policy’ and making its products and services to be more safe and secure for its users.

How to keep your Google account active?

If you also have Google account that has not been used from a long time, and still want to retain it then here is how you can prevent it from auto-deletion. –

Even If you have an existing subscription set up through your Google Account, Google considers it as an activity, and the account remains active.

How users know that their account will be deleted?

User will receive multiple emails every month from Google to their email address and also to their recovery email address (if any) regarding the deletion of their account.

Is this new policy applicable to all Google accounts?

No, this new Inactive Google Accounts policy will only effect personal accounts and will not affect accounts for organization like schools or businesses. And account which have YouTube videos uploaded by their account also remain safe for now. Google will use phased approach and start deleting accounts that were created and never used again.

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