Google to delete accounts that have been inactive for two years or more

Google has announced that it will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for at least two years, a move that the company says is intended to prevent security risks.

According to CNN Business, the updated policy takes effect "immediately," but Google said it will not begin deleting accounts until December. The media outlet also reported that the company plans to send out multiple warning notifications to users and to conduct the purge of inactive accounts in phases.

The first accounts on the chopping block will be those that were created and never revisited by the user, Google said. It's important to note that the policy will only impact personal accounts, leaving organizations like schools and businesses untouched.

Google said its decision is based on internal findings that older accounts are more likely to rely on recycled passwords and less likely to employ up-to-date security measures like two-step verification, making them far more vulnerable to issues like phishing, hacking, and spam.

The decision to delete accounts goes a step further than an older policy, per CNN Business. In 2020, Google said users would have their content wiped from services they'd stopped using, but the accounts themselves would not be deleted.

To save your account, all you need to do is log in to sign into any Google service—perhaps read an email, watch a video, perform a single search, or any number of other activities. (ANI)