Google to Start Deleting Inactive Photos and Gmail Accounts on December 1, 2023
Google will start deleting inactive Photos and Gmail accounts on December 1, 2023, next week.
The deletions will not all happen in one day, but with a “phased” approach starting with accounts that were created and never used again.
The company will also send warnings to the account’s email address and recovery address beforehand.
To avoid being a victim of the deletion exercise, users are to simply sign in to their Google dashboard (or just sign into their Gmail account) and Google will count that as activity.
An inactive Google account could include a Gmail address you used to subscribe to a newsletter, join an online forum, or sign up for a shopping site — all to remain anonymous or avoid spammy messages in your main account. Google said Dec. 1 is the earliest it will begin deleting accounts, so not all inactive accounts will be erased at one time.
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If you’ve got old Google accounts you’d like to keep, here’s how to stop Google from deleting them. For more, check out how to log in to Google with a passkey, and discover 10 Gmail tips and tools to use daily.
If an account hasn’t been used for a while, Google said it’s more likely to be hacked: “This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven’t had two-factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user.”
To reduce this risk, Google may delete an account and its contents if it hasn’t been used or signed into for at least two years.
If you haven’t logged into an account since 2021, Google may eliminate it.
If you’re worried about someone grabbing your deleted account, rest easy: If Google deletes an inactive account, that Gmail address cannot be used again to create a new account, Google said.
