Facebook gives access to its data-porting tool to users in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Initially, the tool was only available to users in Ireland. However, it has now expanded its service to other areas as well. The social media giant also confirmed that the tool would be available to the rest of the world within the first half of this year.
The tool allows users the ease to send media files that are saved in another photo storage service, via encrypted transfer. It can be accessed from the ‘Your Facebook Information’ settings menu.
The tool is a joint effort by Facebook and other tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Google who participated in the Data Transfer Project (DTP) – which connects any two online service providers for seamless service via an open-source code.
Since a couple of years ago, the policymakers and regulators have been eyeing the data practices of technology companies. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have also been facing antitrust scrutiny and under pressure to make their policies transparent.
Facebook brainstormed the idea of data portability in 2019 – potentially an attempt to lobby the regulators when they come calling.
However, as of now, Facebook’s transfer tool supports Google’s cloud storage only. But the company’s spokesperson said that they are open to working with other technology entities and are working on ways to add more services.
Facebook also explained that the code used for DTP is open-source and completely straightforward. In fact, any company that wishes to join the framework can do so with just a few simple steps.
Read next: Facebook’s Ad Transparency Tools Are Not Much Effective, Research Indicates
The tool allows users the ease to send media files that are saved in another photo storage service, via encrypted transfer. It can be accessed from the ‘Your Facebook Information’ settings menu.
The tool is a joint effort by Facebook and other tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Google who participated in the Data Transfer Project (DTP) – which connects any two online service providers for seamless service via an open-source code.
Since a couple of years ago, the policymakers and regulators have been eyeing the data practices of technology companies. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have also been facing antitrust scrutiny and under pressure to make their policies transparent.
Facebook brainstormed the idea of data portability in 2019 – potentially an attempt to lobby the regulators when they come calling.
However, as of now, Facebook’s transfer tool supports Google’s cloud storage only. But the company’s spokesperson said that they are open to working with other technology entities and are working on ways to add more services.
Facebook also explained that the code used for DTP is open-source and completely straightforward. In fact, any company that wishes to join the framework can do so with just a few simple steps.
Read next: Facebook’s Ad Transparency Tools Are Not Much Effective, Research Indicates
