Everyone has more than one Gmail account, but some accounts may have been forgotten, and even the Username and Password are not remembered, so these Gmail accounts will be deleted! According to foreign media reports, Google is about to update its policy, stipulating that accounts that have not been used for more than 2 years are considered inactive accounts, and their data will be cleared and cannot be recovered!
Google said that if an account has not been used for a long time, there is a possibility of being hacked! This is because accounts that are forgotten or left unattended tend to rely on old or reused passwords that may have been compromised, have no two-factor authentication in place, and have fewer security checks.
According to Google’s internal analysis, abandoned accounts are at least 10 times less likely than active accounts to have 2FA enabled. Unfortunately, these accounts are often vulnerable and, once compromised, can be used for everything from identity theft to malicious attacks.
Because of this, Google will start later this year to delete a Google account and its content, including those in Google Workspace, YouTube, and Google Photos, if the account has not been used or logged in for at least 2 years. You can rest assured that this policy only applies to personal Google Accounts and does not affect accounts from institutions such as schools or businesses.
At the same time, this update brings Google’s policy in line with industry standards for retaining and deleting accounts. Also, it limits how long Google maintains a user’s unused personal information. However, Google stated that although this policy is in effect, they will not deal with inactive accounts immediately, and the deletion of account data will be carried out in stages starting from December 2023. Start with an account that you created and never used again. Before deleting an account, Google will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion.
