by At the end of the year, Google will launch a major cleanup campaign. All private Google accounts that have been inactive for at least 2 years are affected. You can find out if your account is included and how you can prevent it from being deleted at MeinMMO.
Google and its services like YouTube are used by many people every day. Yet it seems that there are a certain number of users who give up on the American company’s products or who have forgotten they have a Google account. Anyone with such a forgotten account now needs to act quickly. In a few weeks, Google will begin deleting accounts if they haven’t been actively used for over 24 months.
Google will soon delete your inactive accounts
What happens since December? Google will begin removing Google Accounts that have remained unused for a long time from its system starting December 1, 2023.
- Users then lose access to their account, associated activities, and all data.
- This applies to all Google services connected to your account.
Your emails, photos and files stored on Google Drive will then be irrevocably lost. Publisher Ubisoft was recently criticized for wanting to take action against inactive accounts as well.
The further loss of other accounts that use your Google account data to log in could be particularly annoying. If you have stored your Google email address with another service provider and are then forced to reset your password, the email that saved you will be of no use.
How can I protect my account from deletion? Google lists in its guidelines some activities that consider an account active. As long as you use it normally, you are not threatened with cancellation. This includes, for example, reading emails, watching YouTube videos or using Google Search normally. If you are logged into your account for these and other activities at the same time, you don’t have to worry about anything else. You can also find relevant guidelines in the support area of your Google Account Help.
The situation is different if you haven’t actually used any Google services with your account for two years or more. These accounts are about to be completely eliminated. But the US company is not presented with a fait accompli. Accounts marked as inactive will be notified via email of the impending deletion. But if the alert only ends up in your unused Google inbox, it may soon be too late.
As long as you use another email address as your recovery account, you’re safe. As soon as you sign back in with your Google account, the deletion timer resets to the remaining 24 months.
Why does Google also delete private accounts? The US company does not primarily try to save storage space on its servers. It’s more about removing unsafe accounts that no one has on their radar anymore. Accounts with passwords that are too simple and without two-factor authentication pose a security risk.
Hackers with bad intentions specifically seek out such accounts, gain access, and can use the obtained data to cause serious damage. According to Google, such accounts are up to ten times less protected from attacks by additional security measures.
7 tips for strong passwords and why you need them
