Google Will Start Deleting Inactive Accounts Beginning December: Right here’s Why

Alphabet’s Google on Tuesday stated it could delete accounts that had remained unused for 2 years beginning December, in a bid to forestall safety threats together with hacks.

The corporate stated that if a Google account had not been used or signed into for a minimum of two years, it’d delete the account and content material throughout Google Workspace, which incorporates Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet and Calendar, in addition to YouTube and Google Images.

The coverage change solely applies to non-public Google Accounts and to not these for organizations like colleges or companies.

In 2020, Google had stated it could take away content material saved in an inactive account, however not delete the account itself.

Beginning Tuesday, Google will ship a number of notifications to the account e-mail tackle and restoration mail of the inactive accounts earlier than deletion.

Final week, Elon Musk stated Twitter would take away accounts which were inactive for a number of years and archive them, saying that the motion is “necessary to unlock deserted handles.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Google, Microsoft, Amazon and different non-European Union cloud service suppliers trying to safe an EU cybersecurity label to deal with delicate knowledge may solely achieve this by way of a three way partnership with an EU-based firm, in keeping with an EU draft doc seen by Reuters.

US tech giants and others concerned within the three way partnership may solely have a minority stake, and staff which have entry to EU knowledge must endure particular screening and must be positioned within the 27-country bloc, the doc stated.

Final month, shares of Alphabet fell over 4 % in premarket buying and selling after a report that South Korea’s Samsung Electronics was contemplating changing Google with Microsoft-owned Bing because the default search engine on its units.

© Thomson Reuters 2023