Google will begin purging inactive accounts on its site starting next month according to Ruth Kricheli, Vice President of Product Management.
The decision to eliminate dormant accounts is aimed at reducing security threats as inactive accounts have been more susceptible to security threats like spam and phishing. According to Google’s own data, “abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step-verification set up. Meaning, 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.” Kricheli added, “if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents.”
The process of removing abandoned accounts will happen in phases, the first of which will target accounts that were created but never again accessed. Users can expect to see “multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion”, and businesses need not worry as the policy only applies to personal Google Accounts.
To safeguard your account against deletion, Google requires that user’s login to their account at least once every two years – this can be in the form of reading or sending an email, accessing Google Drive, or using Google Search to name a few. This policy change comes as Google and other large data centres move towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions in their effort to reduce energy and natural resource consumption and combat global climate change.