GOOGLE is set to delete millions of accounts in just five days but here are the steps to save your Gmail and photographs from being destroyed forever.
Google has said that on December 1 they will enforce their updated
inactive account policy.
3
3
3
The search engine giant is then set to cull millions of accounts.
The easiest way of protecting your account from deletion is to sign in to it before December 1.
However you can also protect your account by using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, download a Play Store app, use google search or ensure you have an active subscription on the account.
Google has said the official reason for the policy is to improve security.
Read more in tech
Ruth Kricheli, a vice president of product management at Google, speaking in May 2023, said : “If an account hasn’t been used for an
extended period of time, it is more likely to be compromised.”
According to Google, an abandoned account is 10 times less likely to have two-factor authentication switched on.
That means they’re at significant risk of being stolen by hackers.
And these “vulnerable” accounts could be used by cyber-criminals for identity theft or spam campaigns.
However not every account is set to be deleted on December 1.
Most read in Tech
Google revealed it was taking a “phased approach” by starting with accounts that were created and then never used again.
You should also receive a warning if your account is due to be deleted.
“Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email (if one has been provided),” Google said.
