# Google Drive Deletion Policy

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/google-drive-deletion-policy/38643
**Category:** General
**Created:** 2026-06-20T13:48:07Z
**Posts:** 9

## Post 1 by @DyslexiaDistill — 2026-06-20T13:48:07Z

Google Drive says they delete things permanently from your account 30 days in trash, or after you delete the file from your trash. I’m not sure I trust them on this though. What are the chances that they hold onto things for years and years? Or the chances that they just never delete anything at all?

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## Post 2 by @Valynor — 2026-06-20T13:50:46Z

Data is money so my personal opinion is: the chance that they never delete anything is about 100%.

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## Post 3 by @Expert4870 — 2026-06-20T14:15:48Z

You think the value of the small amount of people that delete their data is worth it over the lawsuits and scandal if it was discovered they don’t delete your data?

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## Post 4 by @PaleCrow55 — 2026-06-20T14:18:20Z

Yeah, probably.

> **[Big Tech earns enough in less than 3 weeks to pay all 2024 fines | Proton](https://proton.me/blog/big-tech-pays-fines-under-3-weeks)**
>
> Big Tech fines reached more than $8 billion in 2024. Unfortunately, not even this fine will give Big Tech pause. But progress is being made.

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## Post 5 by @WhyRhy — 2026-06-20T14:45:20Z

Much like was done many years ago for large co construction projects, many firms set money aside for ‘bribes’. It was literally structured into the funding. Companies like Google (and Meta…) will no doubt be doing the same for regulatory fines.

What regulators haven’t quite grasped yet is their punitive fines are merely costs - minimal ones - that do not outweigh the gains. The GDPR / DPA one in the UK is a max 4% of global turnover. However, The Bribery Act is unlimited.

Until there is ‘unlimited fines’ I don’t see any reason for them to not continue doing what they’re doing with impunity. Even with the Airbus scandal in 2020 the fine was 3.6B, still only 3-4% of the total market value.

> [@DyslexiaDistill](#):
>
> Or the chances that they just never delete anything at all

I’d be more worried about what it’s already done ‘processing’ your data than whether it is or isn’t deleted. The data _might_ have been deleted after it’s already been _processed_ - whether that’s from selling on, training AI and profiling you and so on.

The sooner you de-Google (and block as much of their tripe as you possibly can without breaking your connections), the better.

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## Post 6 by @dixon — 2026-06-21T13:48:08Z

Use cryptomator. Period.

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## Post 7 by @peaceful_ferret_66 — 2026-06-21T14:18:37Z

Let me flip this on its head: data stored costs money, so why would they bother storing every 1 GB video you’ve ever uploaded for eternity?

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## Post 8 by @Valynor — 2026-06-21T14:20:30Z

Peanuts compared to what they can make using it for ads, AI training etc.

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## Post 9 by @madyson — 2026-07-06T19:04:17Z

yea thats a bad business decision