You’ve probably gotten many emails recently to let you know of the updated privacy policy for various websites. This is due to GDPR, which requires certain data protection for European citizens. If you’re like most Internet users, you’ve probably created several accounts that you never use and have even forgotten about. You can use the emails about the updated privacy policies as a reminder to clean up your accounts.
Clean Online Accounts
You’ll likely want to do one of two things with your online accounts:
- delete them
- unsubscribe to them
Option 1: Delete Old Accounts
If you never use the account and even forgot that you had it, then it’s a good idea to delete your account. I recommend the following steps:
- Remove all your personal information from your profile.
- Delete any content that you may have uploaded to the account.
- Delete the account. You can usually find an option to do that in Settings or in a few cases, you may have to contact customer support. If you need to contact customer support, don’t let that dissuade you!
Option 2: Change Subscription Settings
You may want to keep the account, but reduce the number of emails that you receive from it. To do so, find the newsletter settings/preferences after logging into your account to decide the frequency of notifications. You may even want to completely turn off emails from the account. While you’re at it, it’s a good opportunity to clean your Inbox and secure your account.