Google will start deleting inactive accounts next month

Google formally declared back in May that it would begin the process of erasing personal accounts that have not been used for two years, with the goal of finishing the purging by December 2023.

This somewhat drastic action is justified by the fact that old accounts are usually the most vulnerable to hackers due to the possibility that they are using weak passwords, which are the same passwords that compromised accounts on the dark web use. Malicious activities like spam, phishing scams, and account hijacking also target them.

According to Independent, Google has begun notifying customers with dormant accounts via email that their accounts are being destroyed for security purposes. The emails include a reminder about the impacted accounts and recovery addresses.

An email sent to those impacted states that the change is being made “to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services.” their who have previously registered for websites using specific email addresses may find it difficult to access other websites if their accounts are deleted.

Regarding what will be erased, Google has stated unequivocally that it will erase all information from any of its services, including Drive, Docs, and Gmail. It’s crucial to remember that if an account was used to upload a YouTube video, it won’t be deleted because doing so might also erase older YouTube content.

Send an email, download an app from the Play Store, or watch a YouTube video through your affected account before December to ensure activity if you wish to prevent your account from being deleted.

Notably, business and educational email addresses are unaffected by Google’s decision to purge personal accounts alone. Having stated that, you should take appropriate action because the process cannot be reversed.