[microtonal]

You have to read the iCloud terms:

Upon termination of your Account you will lose all access to the Service and any portions thereof, including, but not limited to, your Account, Apple ID, email account, and Content. In addition, after a period of time, Apple will delete information and data stored in or as a part of your account(s).

https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/icloud/en/term...

[cromwellian]

This is basically the same as the Google terms, which appears to be, eventually it'll be deleted but no guarantees will made. Any Cloud provider worth their salt will have multiple datacenter copies as well as tape storage. It's not easy to go back and surgically delete data on tapes, so you've got to expect this will happen slowly, at unspecified times, for example, when old tapes or harddisk clusters are wiped and destroyed.

I mean, if you want to be pedantic, Apple doesn't say how they delete the data. What secure procedures do they use to ensure a clean wipe?