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Google is Set to (NOT) Delete Millions of YouTube Videos this December

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Twister

Twister

Member
Feb 11, 2019
5,109
Google put out a statement today that they will be deleting accounts that have been inactive for two years beginning this December:

www.blog.google

Updating our inactive account policies

Starting later this year, we are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years across our products.
www.blog.google www.blog.google

Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.
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This is a disaster for preservation of history. Millions of YouTube videos from the earliest days of the website's creation are going to be wiped from the face of the Earth with no way to recover them.

EDIT: Google has updated the blog post to include the line:

Additionally, we do not have plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time.
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The line quoted above has been changed to read:
Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar) and Google Photos.
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View: https://twitter.com/YouTubeLiaison/status/1658992559258206208?s=20

View: https://twitter.com/YouTubeLiaison/status/1658829489466384387?s=20
 
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julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,585
two years?? That's really not a lot...

they could maybe just have another service for archived videos that live separately from the rest of youtube and can afford to be in a simpler and less demanding service
 
RailWays

RailWays

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
15,849
There's a lot of great years old videos from inactive accounts. Sounds like a terrible idea
 
PlayBee

PlayBee

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 8, 2017
5,560
Hard to think of a single positive change made to YouTube in the last several years
 
Dakkon

Dakkon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,248
Not surprised it had to happen at some point, YouTube's the only video service that combines free uploads + infinite uploads + never deletes them + popular and have been burning money adding new servers constantly. People adblock the shit of it and refuse to pay for Premium and would complain hard if uploads weren't free or were limited so this is the next best option they got really.
 
game-biz

game-biz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,746
Holy shit nooo. I'll definitely will start to download some videos before this happens then.

Edit: A Suggestion: Make the deleted videos viewable only to premium users. Bwhahaha.
 
Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,374
signal said:
9to5google.com

Google will delete accounts, including Gmail & Photos, that haven't logged on in 2 years

Google is updating its inactivity policy so that old, unused accounts will be deleted starting later this year...
9to5google.com 9to5google.com

Dunno where they're getting this info or if it's just them guessing but:
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It's in the Op, directly from Google's blog officially.

Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.
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Dyl

Member
Oct 27, 2017
756
Two years is crazy. Ten years would be reasonable, considering how long YouTube has been around.

Personally, I understand social networks wanting to remove inactive accounts, but they REALLY need to add a way to preserve accounts of people who have died.
 
cereza

cereza

Member
May 3, 2023
288
Dakkon said:
Not surprised it had to happen at some point, YouTube's the only video service that combines free uploads + infinite uploads + never deletes them + popular and have been burning money adding new servers constantly. People adblock the shit of it and refuse to pay for Premium and would complain hard if uploads weren't free or were limited so this is the next best option they got really.
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Lots of speculation on this first page in this direction (I'm guessing from just reading this thread's headline and reacting), but none of this is in the text of the announcement itself, which is about how this is for account security and to reduce compromised accounts, as unused accounts tend to have reused passwords and no 2FA.
 
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OP
OP
Twister

Twister

Member
Feb 11, 2019
5,109
Tbm24

Tbm24

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,564
Damn, there's a lot of youtube videos from the late 2000s I go back to and relive being a kid. Time to download them just in case.
 
krazen

krazen

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,322
Gentrified Brooklyn
Feels like we are quickly approaching a time where the internet is going to be dead links. When twitter finally kicks the bucket a shitload of old news sites going to be trash
 
Rats

Rats

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,125
Some of the best YouTube is on inactive accounts.

krazen said:
Feels like we are quickly approaching a time where the internet is going to be dead links. When twitter finally kicks the bucket a shitload of old news sites going to be trash
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Over the past several years I've learned over and over again that nothing is actually on the internet forever.
 
vestan

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,743
Imgur and Google stop making horrible decisions challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
 
game-biz

game-biz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,746
Maybe just delete the ones that have like 1000 views or less. That honestly should be a lot.
 
riotous

riotous

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,390
Seattle
Based on the "may delete" wording they'll probably delete stuff that nobody has looked at in ages and/or has never received much in the way of views.
 
lorddarkflare

lorddarkflare

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,323
This makes sense from a business standpoint. Youtube is essentially a money pit.

But it is quite unfortunate that this is retroactive.
 
Zachary_Games

Zachary_Games

Member
Jul 31, 2020
2,986
I don't have a strong opinion on this and see both sides. On one hand, storage is not free and I would rather recycle storage capacities than unearth the raw materials required to build and maintain more storage centers.

On the other hand, it is sad to see so much recorded human history wiped out. While it's common practice for creators to backup their intellectual property nowadays, it most likely wasn't in the early days.

With that said, I have no idea what Google's ultimate intentions are so it's fair to question their motives.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
QisTopTier said:
this is terrible for one big big big big big big big big reason


People die
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That's a big one. People also move on to different stages in their lives. A lot of old video creators didn't have any plans of making content creation their jobs, so they did it while it was fun for them and stopped.
 
take_marsh

take_marsh

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,332
Tbh, the only people who shouldn't have signed into their Google account in the last two years are people who can't recover their password.

That probably does account for some people who have old, old videos up there. Now would be the time for them to download them and prepare for a re-upload to a newer account.

QisTopTier said:
this is terrible for one big big big big big big big big reason

People die
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Luckily, Google does offer a way for family members to access their data (or delete it). When I worked under Google, that WAS NOT an option and I can tell you that I got really pissed off when I ran into such a preventable situation that weirdly took Google years and years to finally get a handle on.
 
Teusery

Teusery

"This guy are sick"
Member
May 18, 2022
2,374
Someone on ERA made a post a few days ago about how insane it is that YouTube lets you just upload a video and it just stays up forever, taking up space
 
Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
Dr. Zoidberg said:
To be fair, this already happens with regularity. I'll go back to my Favorites or Watch Later to look for something and several of the videos will just be gone.
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Same, but I assume most of those are due to copyright claims (justified or not), or due to a user's own choice to delete their videos or account (which is always a possibility).
 
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