Millions of Gmail accounts that have been abandoned will shortly be deleted by Google
However, you shouldn’t be very concerned.
As 2023 draws to a close, so does Google’s deadline for reviving deleted accounts before it hits the big red erase button.
Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management, announced in May 2023 that the business would start terminating inactive accounts three weeks later, in December 2023.
All Google accounts, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Meet, Calendar, and Photos, will be impacted by account deletion.
Google plans to remove inactive accounts starting in December 2023.
According to Kricheli, the action is intended to stop security concerns and attacks, such as “phishing scams, account hijacking, and spam.” In order to strengthen account security, the corporation regularly releases security updates like two-factor authentication (2FA), which makes dormant accounts more vulnerable to attacks than active ones.
According to the company’s own data, accounts that haven’t been used in a long time are ten times less likely to have 2FA enabled.
The bulk deletion will take place in stages, starting with accounts that were made but were never used again.
Before making the dramatic move, Google claims it will send them “multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion.”
All Google asks is that users log in at least once every two years to maintain their accounts active. This might be anything from sending or receiving emails to utilising Google Drive, YouTube videos, installing apps via the Google Play Store, using Google Search, or signing in to third-party apps or services using Sign in with Google.
Apps, news outlets, and Google One are a few examples of active subscriptions that are regarded as adequate activity.
“We do not have plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time,” Kricheli continued.
However, users of Google Photos will have to log in to that app or website explicitly to prevent the deletion of the service.
Even while these actions may appear extreme, the majority of users login in more than once per two years on average, hence the vast majority of abandoned accounts are truly abandoned.
Google and the environment are making progress when it comes to cleaning its servers, as data centres are being closely examined for how they use energy and natural resources.
