Google already advanced it last May and now it has reminded it again: all accounts that have been inactive for the last two years or more will be completely deleted from its servers starting next December. There are currently 1.8 billion active users of Gmail, and 2 billion on Google Photos, but the number of inactive accounts is unknown at this time.
This account policy update that was made last May contains a warning about a cross-service content purge, in addition to placing special emphasis on the security and protection of users.
Google explained, through an article published on its blog, that accounts that have not been used for a long period of time have a double risk. From the outset, your passwords may be old or reused, so they are compromised and can be easily hacked. Second, it is quite possible that double authentication has not been implemented on them. Hence, they carry a risk in the security of the data of Google users.
As Google indicates on its blog, an account is considered inactive when it has not been used in a period of at least two years. However, an account can be active even if it has not been used during the aforementioned period of time, if one or more of these conditions are met:
If you have an account that is inactive but has been used for Google Photos, Drive, Calendar, etc., Google advises downloading all the information you want from that account. To carry out this process, simply access the ‘Download your data’ page and there the Google products that have the account data will be automatically selected.
If there is any information that you do not want to download, you just have to uncheck the box next to the icon. Once all the information to be downloaded has been selected, you have to go to the ‘next step’ and there you will be able to customize the file format. That is, the complete package can be added to the Drive, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft One or send the download link by email. In addition, you can choose the export type (single file or scheduled exports) and the file type (zip or tgz).
Google’s vice president of product management, Ruth Kricheli, stressed that the removal process, which will begin on December 1, 2023, will be carried out gradually and transparently, with prior notifications to users.
To make sure a Google account stays active, just read or send an email in Gmail; do a Google search; make use of Google Drive; play a video on YouTube; or download an app from the Google Play Store.
