The tech giant, Google, has recently introduced an update to its inactivity policy in order to mitigate the risk of inactive accounts being “compromised.” According to the revised guidelines, any Google account that remains unused for a minimum of 2 years will now be deleted. Previously, this policy was applicable to accounts that were inactive for a period of 2 years.
According to Ruth Krichelli, Vice President of Product Management, who stated in an official blog post, our internal analysis reveals that abandoned accounts are significantly less likely to have 2-step verification set up compared to active accounts, making them vulnerable to various risks such as identity theft or being exploited for unwanted or malicious content like spam.
To address this concern, Google has introduced an updated policy, which will be implemented gradually and with sufficient notice. Here are the key details about the updated policy:
- The policy has already taken effect but will not have an immediate impact on users. The deletion of unused accounts will commence from December onward.
- The first accounts to be affected will be those that have remained inactive since their creation.
- Only personal Google accounts will be subject to deletion. Accounts associated with organizations such as schools and businesses will not be affected.
- Prior to the permanent deletion, users will receive multiple reminders sent to both their primary email address (Gmail) and the recovery email (if provided).
- The deletion of an account will have an impact on the content stored within Google Workspace services, including Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, as well as YouTube and Google Photos.
- In order to maintain the functionality of a Google account, it is required to sign in at least once every 2 years, preferably on a regular or daily basis.
