Google will soon delete inactive accounts and related content.
Google wants to clean up its servers. The company announcement in a press release release “that starting this year, if a Google Account has not been used or logged in for at least two years, we may delete the account and its content, including Workspace content (Gmail, Docs, Drive , Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos”.
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This desire to make room is very understandable when you know that the online services of the Mountain View firm contribute a large part to the 36 TB (approximately) of data created every second by Internet users. Gmail is one of the most popular email clients in the world, and most likely accounts for a large share of 340 billion and more emails sent every day around the world. However, it is not the lack of space that Google invokes to motivate this decision, but security.
Google accounts that have not been used for two years will disappear, along with their content
According to the company, “If an account hasn’t been used for a long time, it’s more likely to be compromised. In effect, forgotten or unmonitored accounts may have been compromised “. These accounts are often vulnerable and once an account is compromised, it can be used for identity theft purposes or to distribute malware.
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This measure will not be applied only from December 2023 through “a phased approach”, starting with accounts that have never been used after creation. To ensure that your account is considered active, all you need to do is either:
- to read or send an e-mail with Gmail,
- to use Google Drive,
- watch a video on YouTube,
- download an app from the Google Play Store,
- to use Google Search
- or choose the Sign in with Google option to sign in to a third-party application or service
