Google+ shutting down for good on April 2, 2019

Google has confirmed that its social networking site Google Plus (Google+) would be shutting down on April 2.

Google also stated that it would shut down the social networking site due to 'other challenges' it faced in maintaining and continuing the service. It will allow users to download all their photos and videos before the shut down date. From April 2, the company would start deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts.

The company clarified that photos and videos uploaded on Google Photos would not be deleted from the service. Google account-linked like Gmail and YouTube too would continue to work and only the Google Plus account would be purged.

Google further said that users wouldn't be allowed to upload or create new content pages from as early as February 4. Users who have been using their Google Plus account to log into other sites or apps won't be able to do so in the coming days as it would be replaced with the Google sign-in button. Comments made on other sites using Google Plus ID too would be removed by March 7.

G Suite users who still use Google Plus account would have their accounts remain active and only need to contact their G Suite Administrator. 

Although Google did not mention the challenges directly in its latest blog post, the company had previously announced that there was a breach in the platform’s security system that led to a leak of over 5,00,000 Google Plus accounts. Google claimed to have fixed the issue only to find out there was another bug that caused the data of over 52.5 million users to get exposed. The company then announced that it would be shutting down the platform in April.