In an effort to stave against security concerns including cyberattacks, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., said on Tuesday that it will deactivate accounts that had been inactive for two years beginning in December.
According to the business, accounts and material across Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, and Calendar as well as YouTube and Google Photos, may be deleted if they have not been used or registered into for at least two years.
The change in policy solely affects individual Google Accounts; it does not affect accounts used by corporations or institutions like schools.
Google had said in 2020 that although it would erase the account itself, it would remove any material kept in an inactive account.
Before deleting dormant accounts starting on Tuesday, Google will send repeated alerts to the account email address and recovery mail.
Elon Musk said last week that Twitter will archive accounts that have not been active for a number of years and erase them, stating the move is “important to free up abandoned handles.”