Millions of Gmail accounts to be deleted by Google next month

In the next month, users of Gmail who do not use their accounts frequently may find that they are unable to access them. A procedure designed to deliberately deactivate Gmail accounts that have not been used for at least two years could result in the deletion of millions of accounts in December 2023.

Google stated it is taking action to lower the risk in a blog post published in May by Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management at Google. All of Google's products will now have a two-year inactivity policy for Google Accounts, NDTV reported.

"This is because forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two-factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user," the post read.

"Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have two-step verification set up. 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, like spam."

Who is at risk?

The regulation does not apply to Google accounts belonging to corporations or educational institutions; rather, it solely affects personal Google accounts that haven't been used to access Gmail in the last two years.

How to maintain account activity

The Google blog article states that logging in at least once every two years is the easiest approach to maintaining an active Google account. Your account is deemed active and won't be erased if you have recently logged into your Google Account or any of our services. The following kinds of activities could be considered activity when you sign in or when using your Google Account:

Reading or sending an email

Using Google Drive

Watching a YouTube video

Downloading an app on the Google Play Store

Using Google Search

Using Google Sign-in to sign in to a third-party app or service

Your account will not be impacted if you have an active subscription associated with your Google Account, such as Google One, a news outlet, or an app. Google will consider this ongoing account activity. Moreover, Google does not currently have plans to remove user accounts connected to YouTube videos.