Starting on December 1, Google will begin deleting inactive accounts along with all associated content. This includes Gmail messages, Google Photos, Calendar events, YouTube videos, Google Contacts, and Google Drive documents.
An inactive account is one that has not been used in two years. This could be an old account you created for a newsletter subscription, an online forum you’re no longer active on, or a software subscription account like Adobe.
Despite companies like Google investing more in data security spending, data privacy continues to be a concern for both users and companies. Many businesses claim it is their number one priority at the moment and is part of their core responsibilities. Google says that it’s deleting inactive accounts as a security measure because they are more likely to be hacked.
The company said, “If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised. This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven’t had two-factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user.
These accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam.”
To keep your account active, you just need to sign in once every two years. You can do this by sending an email, watching a YouTube video, or using any other Google service. If you have a special Gmail account that you don’t use anymore or a Google account for a business you never started, you should either start using them again or delete them before December 1.
f you don’t know how many Google accounts you have, you can go to the “Username Recovery” page or “Signin Recovery” and click on the link for “Forgot email?” to find out.
