Is Your Gmail Gathering Dust? Google Is About To Sweep It Away

Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL subsidiary Google’s latest policy change could leave users with a deleted Gmail account if they haven’t logged in for two years. Here’s everything you need to know. 

What Happened: Google has updated its policies for inactive accounts and warned users to log in and look at their accounts once every 24 months. According to a blog post written by the company’s product manager Ruth Kricheli, accounts that have not been accessed during that period might be deleted entirely. 

Previously, Google’s privacy policy stated that the tech giant might wipe data stored in Gmail accounts that haven’t been touched for at least two years. 

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According to a report by 9To5Google, deleted Gmail addresses will not be recycled and since the new policy won’t be enforced until December this year, users have ample time to retrieve their login information or obtain more details about the changes. 

As explained by the company, Google’s new account activity policy considers various actions such as email interactions, Google Drive usage, YouTube viewing, app downloads from the Play Store, utilizing Search and signing in to third-party apps or services with a Gmail account. 

While Google does mention that maintaining subscriptions, such as Google One, can help keep an account active, it remains to be seen if some account functions, like setting up email forwarding aliases, will be affected by the new policy. 

Kricheli stated that the company would prioritize accounts that were created but never accessed. It plans to send multiple notifications to the account and any associated recovery email address in the months leading up to deletion, ensuring users are well-informed about the impending action.

Why It’s Important: Google isn’t the only company which is taking action on inactive accounts. 

Earlier this month, Elon Musk reiterated his five months old statements about freeing up the namespace of 1.5 billion defunct accounts on Twitter, saying that the microblogging site will purge accounts with no activity for several years. 

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