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Google+ pages will shut down on April 2

Download any photos and videos you've put on Google's social network before then.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
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On April 2, you can say goodbye to Google+.

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Google+ content will start vanishing on April 2, the company said Wednesday.

We've known the search giant planned to "sunset" the consumer side of its also-ran social network since its October admission that the personal data of up to 500,000 users was exposed between 2015 and March 2018.

Originally, Google said the service would close in August 2019, but it announced last month that the date had been moved up to April after a new bug revealed further vulnerabilities in the platform.

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On Feb. 4, you'll lose the ability "to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events," the company said in an email to users early Friday.

Now you've got an exact deadline for saving any photos or videos you put on it. At that time, the company will shut down your Google+ account and start deleting pages, photos, videos and other content.

Disappearing sooner are the Google+ API developer tools, which lay at the heart of the security breach. They'll cease to be on March 7, Google product manager David Conway wrote in a blog post.

Companies using Google+ needn't worry though, since Google will continue to support the enterprise side.

First published Jan. 31 at 7:00 a.m. PT.
Update, Feb. 1 at 7:29 a.m. PT: Notes Google's email to users regarding profile creation.

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