Google Issues 3-Week Warning to Gmail Users: What You Need To Know

Google has recently issued a three-week warning to Gmail account holders, signaling the impending deletion of millions of accounts next month as part of a significant platform update.

This initiative is set to affect all personal Google accounts that have remained dormant for at least two years, resulting in the permanent removal of emails, documents, spreadsheets, calendar appointments, photos, and videos. The new policy, introduced earlier this year, is scheduled to take effect in December 2023.

In a blog post from May, Ruth Kricheli, Google’s vice president of product management, explained, “We are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years across our products. This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information.”

The primary objective behind this move is to enhance the security of active Google users by mitigating potential threats such as phishing scams and account hijacking.

Dormant accounts are particularly vulnerable to hacking, often using passwords compromised in previous security breaches, which are readily available on the dark web. Google assures users that any account at risk of deletion will receive “multiple notifications” before any action is taken, including alerts to associated recovery email addresses.

The company has already started sending emails to affected users, emphasizing that the deletion aims “to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services.”

It’s crucial to note that losing access to a Gmail account may hinder users from utilizing other online platforms and services associated with that email address, even if unrelated to Google.

To maintain account activity and avoid deletion, Google advises users to either open or send an email, use Google Drive, download an app from the Google Play Store, or make a Google Search while logged into the account. Notably, any account that has posted a video to YouTube will not be impacted, regardless of its last activity date.