Tech company Google is going to close inactive Gmail accounts for more than 2 years. Updating the inactive account policy, the company said that this decision has been taken to protect Gmail users from threats like spam, phishing and account hijacking.
The company believes that accounts that have not been used for a long time are more likely to be compromised. In such a situation, criminals can use these accounts for wrongdoings.
Google told through a blog post that the inactive account policy has become effective from today itself, but the inactive account will not be deleted immediately. The company will start deleting such accounts from December 2023. With the Gmail account being deleted, users will not be able to use the Google service associated with that account including Mail, Google Drive, Documents, Google Photos.
However, only individual accounts will be deleted under this policy. Accounts of any school, organization or business will not be deleted.
Google has said that before deleting the account of the users, several notifications will be sent to them. Earlier, Elon Musk also said that the Twitter account which has not been used for many years will be deleted and put in the archive.
To keep your Gmail account active, you must sign in at least once every 24 months. Google says that 'if the user signs in to any service with a Google Account, then the account will be considered active and will not be deleted'.
You can keep your account active by sending mail from your account, using Google Drive, watching YouTube videos, downloading apps from the Google Play Store, or signing in with an account elsewhere.
