Google to delete millions of Gmail accounts from December; here’s why

Google will delete millions of Gmail accounts starting December 2023, and the search engine giant has already started warning users.

According to Google, the move to purge inactive accounts is to “protect users from security threats, like spam, phishing scams and account hijacking”.

In May 2023, Google announced that it would delete inactive Gmail accounts from December 2023.

Google said it will remove the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos.

What is an inactive Gmail account?

Google said it is updating its inactivity policy for Google accounts to 2 years across its products.

“Starting later this year (December 2023), if a Google account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos,” Ruth Kricheli, VP, Product Management, Google, said in a blog post in May this year.

Organisations like schools or businesses exempted

The policy only applies to personal Google accounts, and will not affect accounts for organisations like schools or businesses.

“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,” Ruth said.

Multiple notifications before deleting account

“While the policy takes effect today, it will not immediately impact users with an inactive account — the earliest we will begin deleting accounts is December 2023. We will take a phased approach, starting with accounts that were created and never used again,” Google said.

“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),” it added.

How to keep your account active

Google said that the simplest way to keep a Google account active is to sign in at least once every 2 years. If you have signed into your Google account or any of our services recently, your account is considered active and will not be deleted. The activity might include these types of actions you take when you sign in or while you’re signed in to your Google Account:

• Reading or sending an email

• Using Google Drive

• Watching a YouTube video

• Downloading an app on the Google Play Store

• Using Google Search

• Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service

“If you have an existing subscription set up through your Google Account, for example to Google One, a news publication or an app, we also consider this account activity and your account will not be impacted. Additionally, we do not have plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time.

“As previously announced, you will need to specifically sign in to Google Photos every 2 years to be considered active which will ensure your photos and other content are not deleted. Similarly, we will send multiple notifications before we take any action,” Google said.