Almost everyone has a Google account. But there are also accounts that are no longer used. And these inactive accounts are deleted by Google after two years, including GMail and Photos.
As Google now announced in a blog post, they have changed the inactivity policy of Google Accounts to two years.
Google justifies the decision because users expect security from the products and services. Therefore, it has already invested in technology and tools to make spam, phishing, and account theft almost impossible.
However, despite these protective measures, it is possible for an account to be compromised if it is not used for a long period of time. This is because these old, forgotten accounts were primarily set up without 2FA and underwent fewer security checks from users.
As a result, Google account inactivity policies have now been updated to two years for all products. So if an account is not used for at least two years later this year, or there is no sign-in, Google can delete that account and content – including content in Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.
The policy only applies to personal Google accounts and does not impact accounts for organizations such as schools or businesses. This update aligns the policy with industry standards for retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal data.
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