Google adds automatic data deletion for new accounts

Google announced Wednesday that it will begin automatically deleting location history and web activity after 18 months for newly created accounts.

The change comes after the search giant began offering an automatic deletion feature for web searches, virtual assistant requests and location history to all users.

While new accounts will have the deletion feature by default, existing accounts will not have their settings changed.

The shift comes amid criticism of Google’s data collection, which the company says it uses to make its user experience better.

“We believe that products should keep your information for only as long as it’s useful and helpful to you— whether that’s being able to find your favorite destinations in Maps or getting recommendations for what to watch on YouTube,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post.

Google also announced it would change the default setting on new YouTube accounts to delete viewing history after three years.