Google updates their Inactive Account Policy - Accounts not used in 2 years will be deleted starting December 2023

[Ryuzaki]

Source: https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/updating-our-inactive-account-policies/

Ruth Krichell, VP of Product Management, posts that old accounts are very unlikely to have 2-step verification and are easier to hack and use for identity theft and related crimes, and thus these vulnerable accounts will be deleted if they haven't been "used" in 2 years.

They also pitch it as stopping Google from retaining your information longer than necessary.

This deletion will include content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube, and Google Photos.

What does "used" mean? It means:

• Reading or sending an email
• Using Google Drive
• Watching a YouTube video
• Downloading an app on the Google Play Store
• Using Google Search
• Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service
• If you have an existing subscription set up through your Google Account, for example to Google One, a news publication or an app, they also consider this account activity and your account will not be impacted.

How will this go down? They're going to start sending warning notices to email accounts and backup email addresses, months in advance, that you need to take one of the above actions or you'll be deleted. The first wave of deletions will begin in December 2023.

They'll take a "phased approach" starting with the most useless accounts that were created and never used even once.

You can follow the advice on the source page to backup your accounts if you wish. Consider downloading your old Youtube videos if that's the only place you have them stored.

 

[googlealchemist]

I can't really think of a project/specific google account where I wouldn't at least be uploading a youtube video far more often than every 2 years but...

Populating drive automatically via ifttt rss applet from the moneysite should be a good safeguard then if nothing else? Again, considering I'll always be posting content on the main site far more often than every two years even if I drop Youtube content updates, or making any searches, etc from that account.