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Google Workspace is a service used and enjoyed by millions around the world. There are entire businesses built on Google Workspace. India Today reports that American Romance author, K. Renee has lost access to her Google Drive account which denied her access to her work on Google Docs.
Renee lost access to over 200,000 words because Google found her content inappropriate. The romance author known for randy romance novels lost access to her content on March 24, 2024, after Google flagged it as ‘inappropriate’.
Getting locked out of Google Drive is every author’s worst fear
Writing takes a lot of time and effort. Every author’s worst fear is losing access to years of hard work because the platform the content is hosted on kicked you out.
Wired reports that Google never told Renee which of the over 200,000 words broke the platform’s rules. The Google Drive terms of service state that files containing violence, gore, and child sexual abuse material, are prohibited. Google says that users can always request an appeal if they believe their content was flagged in error.
Renee’s case highlights the importance of not relying on a single cloud storage provider
Renee is very likely not the only one who has lost access to her content on Google. In 2021, Google locked the co-creator of Terraria out of his Google account. He was locked out of services like Gmail, Play Store, and YouTube, leading to the cancellation of the release of Terraria on the now-defunct Stadia.
It is a bit of common advice to not put all your eggs in one basket. Users should not rely solely on one cloud provider like Google, because they can get locked out at any time. If you have important files, make multiple backups on different cloud storage providers, and always keep a local copy with you. This should reduce the impact radius in case your account on any cloud provider gets nuked.