Starting Friday, 1st December, Google is moving ahead with its plan to delete accounts that have been inactive for at least two years. Google announced it plans to initiate this new policy back in May 2023. Google has said the system-wide purge is intended to protect users from security threats, such as spam, phishing scams, and account hijacking.
Google is deleting inactive accounts from its system because it says they are "more likely to be compromised." Unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords, receive fewer security checks by users and are 10 times more likely not to have two-factor authentication set up, Google's internal data shows. Thus, when these accounts are compromised, hackers will likely use them for identity theft and malicious content.
Hence, according to Google Notice, the company will terminate inactive accounts on 1 December 2023. However, to be clear, Google hasn't said it would delete every eligible account starting on Friday. The company plans to take a phased approach, "starting with accounts that were created and never used again."
HOW TO SAVE YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNTS?
In many cases, simply signing in should be enough to keep a Google Account active for another two years. Google also says reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, downloading an app from the Google Play Store, using Google Search, or using Sign in with Google to log in to a third-party service are all things that count as activities under its inactive accounts policy.
Alternatively, Some Google users may want to download their data or back it up while letting their old accounts expire. To do so, you can go to this Google site, which explains how to use its Google Takeout service to save your data.
