Google has updated its policy for inactive accounts, which means that Google may now begin deleting accounts that have been inactive for two years. The reason for this is that Google believes inactive accounts are more often hijacked by unauthorized individuals and used for activities such as spam, phishing, and other violations of Google’s guidelines.
An inactive account refers to an account where no one has logged in or performed any other activity in the past two years. Google does not explicitly state that they will delete all accounts that have been inactive for two years, but they may do so. If an account is inactive for two years, all content from services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Calendar, Google Photos, and YouTube associated with the account may be deleted.
Google’s policy regarding inactive accounts applies only to personal accounts, not accounts associated with any businesses, according to a blog post by Google. Google will begin deleting inactive accounts at the earliest in December 2023.
