Google Admits It Deleted Some Customer Data After 'technical Issue'

Google has admitted it lost some customer data, possibly forever.

The data was stored in Google Maps’ Timeline feature, which – for those of you who let Google track you around the world – preserves a record of locations you visit. That sounds creepy and perhaps creepier still once you realize Google makes it possible for photos to appear on the Timeline too, so that users can have a visual record of their travels.

Over the weekend, users noticed their Timelines went missing.

Google seems to have noticed, too, as The Register has seen multiple social media posts in which Timelines users share an email from the search and ads giant in which it admits “We briefly experienced a technical issue that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people.”

The email goes on to explain that most users that availed themselves of a feature that enables encrypted backups will be able to restore their Maps Timelines data.

Users who did not make those backups can’t restore their data. Those who did make backups need to manually restore their info using a procedure Google included in its email.

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The Register has asked Google to explain the nature of the “technical issue” and to explain how many users face data loss.

We’ll update this story if Google responds with substantial information.

This isn’t the first time Google has messed up users’ historical data: In 2023 the company shortened its default data retention time for location info from 18 to three months, but some users missed the announcement and then complained as their data was purged.

Google is not alone in promising resilience but losing customer data. In recent months we’ve reported on similar incidents at Veeam and Cloudflare. ®