If you have an abandoned Google Account, now may be the time to sign in to prevent it from being deleted.
It’s likely that you haven’t logged into your Google account for a long time, either because you switched accounts or you completely forgot. However, if like many others you want to keep using those old accounts, you’ll need to sign up quickly to get their contents.
Watch out for your old accounts!
Google announced Tuesday, May 16th, that it will delete accounts that have been inactive for at least 2 years. A measure that, according to the company, is intended to prevent security risks, especially online fraud. This new policy takes effect immediately, but Google said removals will not begin until December 2023. The company plans to send several warning notifications to users and gradually delete inactive accounts.
So what does Google do?
This change was announced by the company on its blog.The keyword‘, citing security concerns as one of the reasons for the decision.
“According to our internal analysis, inactive accounts are at least 10 times more vulnerable than active accounts with two-step verification. This means that these accounts are often vulnerable and once an account is compromised, it can be used for various purposes, from identity theft to distributing unwanted or even malicious content like spam. »
In addition, “Google limits how long your unused personal information can be retained.” And unlike other services with varying degrees of security and privacy, Google doesn’t unblock Gmail addresses for recovery, rather the deletion is permanent.
What can you do to prevent your account from being deleted?
To prevent your account from being deleted, there is nothing easier. You just have to keep it active. To do this, you must log in regularly. In addition to periodic connection, an activity is also considered to be the execution of basic actions:
- Read or send emails
- Use of Google Drive
- Watch a video on YouTube
- Download an app from Google Play
- Using Google Search
- Using an Android device connected to the account.
