If you haven’t logged into your old Gmail account from the past 2 years then Google will delete accounts, including Gmail & Photos.
In 2020, Google said it would remove content stored in an inactive account to preserve storage space. Google is now updating its inactivity policy so that old, unused accounts will be deleted.
Google will delete accounts, including Gmail & Photos
“If a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years,” Google will delete that personal account and its contents.
In addition to the email address becoming inaccessible. Gmail messages, Calendar events, Drive, Docs, and other Workspace files, as well as Google Photos backups, will be removed.
At the moment, Google is not planning to delete accounts with YouTube videos. (That would be tricky as some old abandoned clips might have historical relevance.)
Google will start deleting inactive accounts in December 2023 and take a “phased approach,”. Starting with “accounts that were created and never used again.” The company says it is “going to roll this out slowly and carefully.”
According to Google,
“Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email”
In making this change, Google cites security, as inactive accounts. Often “old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised” — are more likely to be compromised.