New Google Policy: Inactive Google Accounts Will Be Deleted

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New Google Policy: Inactive Google Accounts Will Be Deleted

engine

3:14 pm on May 17, 2023 (gmt 0)

Google has updated its policy on inactive accounts, and now says if there is no login for two years it'll delete the account and its contents. "including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos." This applies to personal Google accounts, and not businesses or schools. It says it won't start deleting accounts until December 2023.

Activity to keep the account alive while signed in includes;_

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

[blog.google...]

tangor

6:19 pm on May 19, 2023 (gmt 0)

Google has announced an update to its "inactivity policy" that will see the search and ads giant delete accounts – and their data – if users don't use them to search the web at least once in two years.

The web biz has justified the change on the grounds that holders of accounts that haven't been touched for two years are less likely to have adopted two-factor authentication or updated passwords.

[theregister.com...]

Fortunately for most this won't happen. The inactivity bar is set pretty low ... but I can imagine that g has a very large number of "created once, never used" accounts that could be cleaned out!

[edited by: not2easy at 6:33 pm (utc) on May 19, 2023]
[edit reason] splice cleanup [/edit]