It may soon be deleted if you have an old Google account that you haven’t used in a few years. According to its inactive account policy, the tech giant will be deleting them starting on Friday.
According to the company, it would implement the change gradually, beginning with accounts that “were created and never used again”.
Google explained that security concerns led to the change, emphasising that inactive and forgotten accounts are more vulnerable to hacking. With the same login and password, users of a Google account can access the majority of Google products, including the video-sharing website YouTube and the email service Gmail.
Ways to keep your account active
The tech giant stated in a blog post from May that the reason older accounts are more susceptible is because they frequently use the same or outdated passwords and haven’t had two-factor authentication enabled.
To keep something active, all you need to do is log in or send an email. Once misused, an account can be used for spam, malicious content, and identity theft, among other things.
Frequently, simply logging in should be sufficient to extend the validity of your Google account by an additional two years. Google added that watching a YouTube video or reading or sending an email using Google Drive could be beneficial.
It’s a good idea to have an accessible recovery email address linked to your account so you can receive notifications after you log in.
Google sends warning
Google said that emails warning of the upcoming deletion have been sent to both the affected accounts and their recovery email addresses.
In a related development, users are being alerted that in order for their Google Photos account to remain active and guarantee that their photos and other content are not removed, they will need to log in specifically every two years. Users will be issued another warning.
The Google account that was created for them by their employer or educational institution will not be deleted.
Some accounts that might be deemed actively used and excluded from the deletion policy are those that have purchased an ongoing Google service or subscription, or that are used to use Google’s Family Link feature to manage an active child’s account.
If users have recently logged into their accounts, they should not be concerned because it indicates that the account is active and won’t be deleted.
