Hajra Naz
Deleting inactive accounts is a longstanding practice, and Google recently reiterated its intention to begin removing personal accounts that have been inactive for two years. The company has officially confirmed that this deletion process is scheduled to commence in December 2023.
It’s crucial to engage with your Google account before December to prevent permanent deletion.
The reason behind this is straightforward: Google asserts that inactive accounts are susceptible to hacking, given the likelihood of outdated and insecure passwords. These accounts also become targets for spam, phishing, hijacking, and similar threats.
To prevent accidental deletions, Google has initiated the dispatch of email reminders to users with inactive accounts, including recovery addresses. The email explicitly informs users that their accounts are slated for deletion due to security concerns.
Recipients of the email will find a message stating, “to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services.”
Concerning content deletion, Google plans to erase all data associated with a single account across its services, encompassing Gmail, Docs, Drive, Sheets, and more. However, content uploaded to YouTube using the account will remain unaffected.
If you’ve received an email about the impending account deletion and wish to prevent it, you can take proactive measures before December. This includes actions such as sending an email from the affected account, downloading an app from the Play Store, watching a YouTube video, creating a sheet, or uploading content on Drive.
It’s crucial to note that this account purge applies exclusively to personal accounts, with Google currently excluding enterprise or educational accounts from this process. Additionally, once initiated, this account-deleting process is irreversible unless the account is actively used.
