It’s the 11th hour for who-knows-how-many inactive Google accounts. Earlier this year, Google sounded the bell that beginning on December 1, 2023 it will commence the deletion of inactive Google accounts along with all associated content.
That means Gmail messages, Google Photos, Calendar events, YouTube videos, Google Contacts, and Google Drive documents.
An inactive Google account could be a Gmail inbox you set up for a newsletter subscription, an online forum you’re a member of like Reddit, or an online retailer you prefer didn’t have your primary email to avoid their endless sales pings, or it could be a software subscription account like Adobe which requires a unique email address.
“If an account hasn’t been used for an extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised” is Google’s reasoning behind this move.
“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. 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.”
Enough said.
Don’t want to let go of those Google accounts?
The company’s basic rule of thumb is that if you’ve signed into each of your accounts once every two years, you’re good. Send an email, watch a YouTube video, anything “Google” will do the trick.
But if you had a special Gmail account for a secret lover who’s no longer on the scene (or secret) or you set up a Google account for a business you hoped to start but never did, this is the time to fish or cut bait.
Don’t know how many Google accounts you have? No problem. If you set up a recovery e-mail address or mobile device on the account, just go to: https://accounts.google.com/signin/usernamerecovery – or https://accounts.google.com/signin/recovery and click on the link for “Forgot email?”.
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