- Former G Suite users are being pushed to upgrade to professional plans
- Google says some users are using the free suite for commercial purposes
- Users submitted GDPR access requests to restore their accounts.
Many G Suite Legacy users complain that Google pushes free lifetime users toward business plans at the expense of apparent commercial use.
Many affected people say they have been using legacy G Suite for family email or personal domains for years, even decades, without commercial intent or activity.
Those who attempted to appeal the decision were met with an unclear appeals process and, apparently, in some cases, automatic denial.
“Please upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription”
The old free edition of G Suite was officially discontinued for commercial use in 2022, but Google allowed personal use of the suite in a free-for-life format, provided users don’t use the accounts for commercial purposes.
Now, those affected by this wave of apparent commercial use have received an email stating: “Please upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription to continue using your services. Look for a notification about the appeal process in the Google Admin Console or via email. If you do not take action within your 45-day appeal period, Google will begin suspending your core Google Workspace services, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and Meet. As a result, you will lose access to these basic services and data.
A Google community post asking for help says their family has been using legacy G Suite for nearly 20 years under a custom domain name with 15 accounts, “only for private messaging and basic Google services.”
“There is no business, no income, no commercial activity of any kind associated with this domain. The stakes are very high for our family,” the post read, with the user explaining that the accounts exist as part of “digital identities built over nearly two decades,” noting that some family members would not be equipped to handle the migration to a new domain.
Many users on Reddit’s r/gsuitelegacymigration also received the email upgrading their accounts.
“The legacy free edition of G Suite is intended for personal, non-commercial use. If users are identified as commercial users, we will enforce our existing policy and help them upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription. Anyone who believes their account was mistakenly identified as being used for commercial purposes can appeal,” a Google spokesperson said. The register.
Google hasn’t explained how it links legacy G Suite domains to business activity. A Reddit user said their account had been flagged for being used for commercial purposes. and their appeal was rejected. The user successfully restored their account after filing a GDPR access request asking Google to provide proof that the domain was being used for commercial purposes.
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