I suspect we are missing part of the story. I have never seen anybody say Apple deleted their content. Certainly Apple might if you were using extra storage and then didn't pay for it, but even then Apple will start off by just not letting you add more to that storage. They do reserve the right to ultimately delete files that exceed your free or paid storage but again that might takes some time and you get warning.
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/icloud/en/terms.html#:~:text=%28g%29%20failure%20to%20pay
VII. B.
"Apple may at any time, under certain circumstances and without prior notice, immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Account and/or access to the Service. Cause for such termination shall include […] (g) failure to pay any fees owed by you in relation to the Service, provided that in the case of non-material breach, Apple will be permitted to terminate only after giving you 30 days’ notice and only if you have not cured the breach within such 30-day period."