Inactive YouTube accounts will not be deleted, Google confirms

Google will not delete inactive YouTube accounts, the company has confirmed.

The tech giant had recently released a statement which said that any accounts inactive for more than two years will be permanently deleted, fuelling concerns that a change in policy could lead to the deletion of large parts of YouTube’s music archives.

Many believed that accounts responsible for original and rare music to the platform could be lost alongside their uploads with them.

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Rolling Stone reported that the update in policy will not include the deletion of accounts with YouTube videos.

The recent statement sparked more panic among the electronic music community, for whom the platform is an indispensable source of musical discovery.

The new Google policy that was announced on Tuesday (May 16) will now only affect personal accounts rather than those belonging to companies.

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The company states the change in policy will allow them to reduce the number of dormant accounts being hacked and used for spam activity. The policy is said to come into place at the end of 2023.

An account that hasn't been used or signed into for at least two years will be at risk of having all of its content deleted. This will affect Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos as well.

Many DJs took to Twitter to express their concerns with Glasgow DJ Boosterhooch calling YouTube her “favourite place to source new music” and that the mass deletion of videos would make her a “way less interesting DJ.”

Furthermore, London-based DJ and producer Plesk Parallel feared the loss of countless grime tracks that can only be found on YouTube.

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Vee Pandey is Mixmag's Digital Trainee, follow her on Twitter