Final answer:
The given statement is false. Closing a Hangout chat does not cause the conversation to be lost forever; it is retained according to user settings and policies. The conversation remains accessible unless the chat history has been turned off or intentionally deleted by the user (option b).
Step-by-step explanation:
False, once you close a Hangout chat, the conversation is not lost forever. G Hangouts is designed to save your chat history so you can return to it at any time, as long as chat history has been enabled for the conversation by all participants. If the chat history is turned off, the conversation will only be temporarily available and may eventually be lost.
For those using G Hangouts through a G Workspace account, such as a school or business account, administrators may set data retention policies that could impact how long a conversation is stored. Otherwise, for personal G accounts, users have the ability to delete their chat history, which would permanently remove the conversation.
Hence, the answer is option b.