Have you ever had an account that you just forgot about? If that happens to be a Google account, it might get deleted next month. Google has begun sending out emails to accounts that have been inactive for 2 years, informing them that they will be purged in due course, indicating that the company will finally be fulfilling the promise it made back in May of this year.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google is mainly doing this for security reasons. Malicious actors often target old accounts because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to exploit security gaps, so the tech juggernaut is clearly trying to improve security across the board by cleaning up shop.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, some are saying that this will deprive users of access to other accounts that they log into using their Google accounts. Many users have made accounts on other sites using their Google profiles since this can make signing up easier than might have been the case otherwise, and it will be interesting to see what the fallout from this move ends up looking like.
When an account is deleted, any data belonging to the account contained within Google Drive, Gmail or any other platform will also be deleted. However, YouTube videos posted by the account will still stay up, since YouTube is generally managed separately from the rest of Google. Deleting YouTube videos could lead to entire online legacies being erased, and that is likely not going to be something that Google would want to do.
In order to avoid facing account deleting, you basically just need to download an app that belongs to Google or alternatively watch a YouTube video. Doing so will essentially prove that the account is still active, and that it is being used at least occasionally. One thing that bears mentioning is that only personal accounts will be deleted, so enterprise and education accounts will be safe.
Read next: X Helps Users Navigate Through Long Videos With Its New Timestamp Links While Launching Innovative Live Displays For Gaming Streamers
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google is mainly doing this for security reasons. Malicious actors often target old accounts because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to exploit security gaps, so the tech juggernaut is clearly trying to improve security across the board by cleaning up shop.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, some are saying that this will deprive users of access to other accounts that they log into using their Google accounts. Many users have made accounts on other sites using their Google profiles since this can make signing up easier than might have been the case otherwise, and it will be interesting to see what the fallout from this move ends up looking like.
When an account is deleted, any data belonging to the account contained within Google Drive, Gmail or any other platform will also be deleted. However, YouTube videos posted by the account will still stay up, since YouTube is generally managed separately from the rest of Google. Deleting YouTube videos could lead to entire online legacies being erased, and that is likely not going to be something that Google would want to do.
In order to avoid facing account deleting, you basically just need to download an app that belongs to Google or alternatively watch a YouTube video. Doing so will essentially prove that the account is still active, and that it is being used at least occasionally. One thing that bears mentioning is that only personal accounts will be deleted, so enterprise and education accounts will be safe.
Read next: X Helps Users Navigate Through Long Videos With Its New Timestamp Links While Launching Innovative Live Displays For Gaming Streamers
