Google to delete dormant accounts in December 2023

By Alexander Chiejina

Google will begin deleting accounts that have not been used for at least two years, the company has said.

The company claims this action is taken to reduce security concerns, noting that the revised policy is effective immediately, but the account deletion won’t start until December 2023.

The company said it intends to phase in the deletion of dormant accounts while also providing consumers with repeated warning notifications.

These accounts are frequently vulnerable, and once a hacked account has been utilized, it may be exploited for everything from identity theft to spreading spam or other undesired or harmful content, said Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management at Google.

Data on Gmail, Google Drive and Docs, Google Photos, Google Calendar, and YouTube would be deleted if an account were to be deleted. The regulation only applies to individual Google accounts, not those connected to businesses or educational institutions, the technology giant explained.

Inactive accounts and the recovery emails connected to those accounts will receive repeated notices. The removals will begin as early as December, and accounts that were created but never used would be deleted first, Kricheli further stated.

According to Google, accounts that users have created but never used again will be the first to go. Additionally, only personal accounts would be affected by the legislation, leaving corporations and institutions like schools unaffected.

Google stated that the decision was based on internal research that older accounts are much more prone to problems like phishing, hacking, and spam because they are less likely to use modern security methods like two-step-verification and more likely to rely on recycled passwords.

The choice to delete accounts is an improvement over an earlier approach. Google stated that users’ content from services they had ceased using would be removed in 2020, but the accounts themselves would not be deleted.

All you have to do to save your account is sign in to your Google account or any Google service, then you may read an email, view a video, run a quick search, or do any number of other things, Google said.