Google to start deleting personal accounts inactive for 2 years this week

New Delhi: Google will start deleting those personal accounts, which have been inactive for two years, from this week.

The tech giant announced this policy in May, saying, the company will purge the content in inactive accounts within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.

Starting December 1, the company will begin deleting such accounts. “Google products reserve the right to delete your data when your account has not been used within that product for a 2-year period,” the company said in its Inactive Google Account Policy.

“December 1, 2023, is the earliest a Google Account will be deleted due to this policy,” it added. This policy only applies to users’ personal Google Account.

The company said, “this policy doesn’t apply to any Google Account that was set up for you through your work, school, or other organisation”.

Google when announced the policy, explained that 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,” it added.

In August, the tech giant sent emails to its billions of users, saying the company updating the inactivity period for a Google Account to two years across all its products and services.