关于User Deletion API中deletionRequestTime参数的释义问询

Hey there, let's unpack this clearly for you:

First, let's clarify the exact behavior of the deletionRequestTime parameter based on its official definition:

该参数定义为“标记应删除指定终端用户与Google Analytics媒体资源或Firebase项目的所有用户数据的时间节点”

The critical point here is: when you set deletionRequestTime to a specific date (like 2018-01-01 GMT), it deletes all user data for the specified user that was collected ON OR BEFORE that date.

To put it in concrete terms for your example:

• Setting it to 2018-01-01 means you'll keep all data collected after that date, and wipe everything from the start of your property up to and including 2018-01-01.
• This is the opposite of deleting data from 2018-01-01 to today—this parameter is designed to clear historical data up to a cutoff, not to remove recent data from a starting point.

Now, about your observation where the User Explorer report looked like all time data was cleared right after calling the API:

• Don't panic yet! Google's deletion processing pipeline isn't instant. It can take up to 72 hours for the deletion request to fully propagate across all their systems and reflect accurately in reports. The immediate "empty" view you're seeing is likely a temporary frontend state while the backend works through the request.
• Stick to your plan of waiting the full 72 hours, then check the report again. If the data still doesn't align with the expected behavior (i.e., pre-2018 data is still there, or post-2018 data is missing), double-check your API request payload to confirm you used the correct deletionRequestTime format, user identifier, and property ID—small typos can throw things off.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Vibhor Jain