Google intends to start deleting a large number of inactive Gmail accounts. Google’s Gmail is a well-known and extensively utilized email service that offers advanced features including artificial intelligence (AI)-generated answers and a strong two-step authentication mechanism.

The tech giant disclosed a change in policy in May, going from only deleting Gmail account material to also deleting the accounts themselves. This change might potentially harm millions of inactive Gmail accounts. Recognize the effects of this purge and find out how to protect your account.

According to Google’s most recent inactive policy, the company has the power to remove a Gmail account and any related content from Google Workspace if it is not used for more than two years. This includes Drive, Meet, Documents, YouTube, and Pictures. It is crucial to remember that this regulation only applies to individual accounts; accounts linked to businesses are not covered.

Google said in the release of this upgrade that idle accounts have a ten-fold lower likelihood of having 2FA configured, based on internal study. Because of this, these accounts are more susceptible to possible breaches of security and leaks. As a result, threat actors may target inactive or underutilized accounts, giving rise to the possibility of unauthorized access and its usage for harmful purposes.

“Forgotten or unattended accounts often rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised, have not had two-factor authentication set up, and receive fewer security checks by the user,” stated Ruth Kricheli, vice president of product management at Google.

Google suggests checking in to your Gmail account at least once every two years to keep it from being inactive. You don’t need to log in to Gmail expressly to maintain the status of your account; any action on a Google-related service will do.

Additionally, Google is expanding the nations in which its Pixel phone’s auto collision detection technology is available, adding India to the list. India and four other nations are listed as supported regions for this feature by Google. In the US, Pixel phones first came equipped with the car crash detection capability in 2019.