Gmail users who have not been using their accounts on a regular basis may have their accounts deleted soon.
Millions of Gmail accounts are on the verge of being erased in December 2023. All accounts that have been dormant for at least two years will be deactivated.
In a blog post published in May, Google Vice President of Product Management Ruth Kricheli indicated that the business is taking steps to limit the likelihood of account removals.
“Google is updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years across our products. Starting in December, if a Google account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents, including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), and Google Photos,” read the post.
“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,” Kricheli added.
“Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have two-step verification set up. These accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam,” he further stated.
