Search engine platform, popularly known as Google, has reportedly announced plans to delete users inactive accounts after two years.
Google who made this known via a press statement said this change began on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, and will apply to any Google Account that has not been signed into or used within a two-year period.
Leadership reports that Google had also said that the changes do not impact its users unless they have been inactive with their Google Account for two years or have not used their account to sign in to any Google service for over two years.
While the changes go into effect on Tuesday, the search engine company disclosed that the earliest it would enforce any account deletion would be December, 2023.
“If your account is considered inactive, we will send several reminder emails to both you and your recovery emails (if any have been provided) before we take any action or delete any account content.”
“These reminder emails will go out at least eight months before any action is taken on your account,” it continued.
“After a Google Account is deleted, the Gmail address for the deleted account cannot be used again when creating a new Google Account,” it explained.
The search engine advised its users to sign into their account at least once every two years to keep Google account active.
“If you have signed in to your Google Account recently in the past two years, your account is considered active and will not be deleted,” it said.
Other ways to keep one’s account active include; reading or sending an email; using Google Drive; watching a YouTube video; sharing a photo; downloading an app; using Google Search and using Sign-in with Google to sign into a third-party app or service.
According to Google, There are some exceptions to this policy, “examples include: a Google Account with YouTube channels, videos or comments; an account that has a gift card with a monetary balance; or an account that has a published application, for example, one that hosts an app on the Google Play store. Other exceptions to this policy are available here.”