Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Google has adjusted its privacy settings so that it retains less user data in an effort to keep personal information safe.
The technology giant’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, said by default, Web and app activity and location data will now be automatically deleted after 18 months.
“That’s why last year we introduced auto-delete controls, which give you the choice to have Google automatically and continuously delete your Location History, search, voice and YouTube activity data after three months or 18 months.
“We continue to challenge ourselves to do more with less, and today we’re changing our data retention practices to make auto-delete the default for our core activity settings.”
Google said it was using a longer default data retention policy in place for YouTube because users would benefit from the video recommendations the platform made based on a user’s search history.