MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — To reduce the risk of security threats, spam and account hijacking, Google will be going through inactive accounts and deleting them.
Starting in December Google will be updating their inactivity police for Google accounts. If an account has not had activity for two years or more, the account and all its content will be deleted.
Even with this in place, they urge users to set up their 2-step verification system. Accounts that don’t have this in place have a higher chance of being compromised and hacked.
They have said that they will be rolling this out slowly, with plenty of notice for users that fall at risk.
“While the policy takes effect today, it will not immediately impact users with an inactive account — the earliest we will begin deleting accounts is December 2023,” says Google, “Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email.”
Now if you are worried your account might be at risk, here is how to keep it active:
Reading or sending emailsUsing Google DriveWatching a YouTube videoDownloading an app on the Google Play StoreUsing Google searchUsing sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service
These are basic features that people use on a day to day basis if they are active with their Google account.
Even if your account is active, it is always smart to have a backup plan for your account and all its content. Some options to protect your content include:
Download and export data to other platforms through Takeout featureuse Inactive Account Manager which will allow you to decide what to do with your data for up to a 18 month period
For more information about Google’s new inactive account policy and how to protect your content, visit the Google help website.
