Announcing the changes, Google confirmed: “If you’re inactive for 2 years (24 months) in Gmail, Drive or Photos, we may delete the content in the product(s) in which you’re inactive. If you exceed your storage limit for 2 years, we may delete your content across Gmail, Drive and Photos.”
Google is keen to point out that the earliest anyone will find their content removed is June 21 2023. This is because the new rules don’t come into force until June 2021 and users then have two years to comply.
Google One members who are within their storage quota and in good-standing will also not be impacted by this new inactive policy.
This email is arriving just after Google announced another major change to its Google Photos storage plans. After five years of offering its users completely free photo back-up in its compressed “high quality” format, Google Photos will now start charging for storage plans as soon as users fill the free 15GB allowance that comes with every Google Account.
