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Google announced on May 16 that it will be deleting Google accounts that have not been used or signed into for more than two years, staring this December.

Along with the deletion of the account, content within the Google workspace such as Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive, as well as information stored on YouTube and Google Photos will be deleted.

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

Google said this measure will be taken to reduce the risk of security threats such as spam, phishing scams and account hijacking.

It was explained that if an account hasn't been used for an extended period of time, it becomes more susceptible to compromise, as forgotten or unattended accounts "often rely on old or reused passwords that may have been compromised, haven't had two factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user".

Before an account's deletion, Google will send multiple notifications over the months leading to the deletion to both the account email address and the recovery email.

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