YouTube will no longer remove videos from inactive accounts

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Google updated its policy on inactive accounts on Tuesday, stating that any account that has not been active in two years will be removed. People on the internet were quick to respond: what about old YouTube accounts?

There’s a treasure trove of internet history in the dusty corners of YouTube, not to mention the accounts of users who have since died, whose loved ones would probably rather have access to their digital files. Although Google will continue to remove other old accounts, the owner of YouTube updated his new policy so that he no longer removes YouTube videos from the platform.

To be precise, Google updated the post to read: “We have no plans to remove accounts with YouTube videos at this time.”

Google’s reasoning for enacting this new inactive account policy is to reduce fraud. The company argues that these logins are easier to crack.

“Our internal analysis shows that abandoned accounts are at least 10 times less likely than active accounts to have two-step verification set up,” Google wrote in your ad. “That is, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector of unwanted or even malicious content, such as spam.”

Of course, Google would also save on server costs by removing some old uploads. But for content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos, the deletion process won’t begin until December 2023. The process will be gradual, starting with accounts that have been deleted and will never be removed again. they used. So users with old accounts have plenty of time to log in to make sure they get to keep their stuff. Google said the activity can refer to something as simple as using Google to sign in to another app. Before deleting an account, Google will send multiple notifications to the user, including to their recovery address.

It’s a relief to many Internet fans that YouTube videos will remain intact, but Google contains so many people’s memories, from Google Drive to Photos, that some digital artifacts will be lost. Meanwhile, on Twitter, owner Elon Musk also recently announced plans to purge inactive accounts. These potentially changing policies at tech companies serve as a valuable reminder: back up your significant data.