Facebook is making it easier to shift your data off the platform

Facebook has expanded its export tool to enable users to transfer more of their data to other services.

Social media platforms such as Facebook have long been criticized by open data advocates as walled gardens that hoard data by restricting data portability. 

Facebook has been trying to improve its reputation in this regard since 2019 when it first launched a tool that enabled users to copy all their photos and videos to Google Photos.

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The social networking giant has since been campaigning for data portability laws and is again using the update to its data sharing tool to call on lawmakers to create guidelines for moving data between platforms. 

Legal ambiguity

Facebook users can now use the export tool to enable users to transfer a copy of their posts and notes to various other services such as Blogger, Google Docs, and WordPress. 

The company is also banking on the new export functionality as an example of how lawmakers can shape guidelines to enable a secure mechanism for the flow of data between all kinds of social services.

A standardized policy will also help resolve issues around the ambiguity of data ownership. For instance, when users will transfer their posts and notes through the new feature, the transfers will not include comments from Facebook friends or posts that friends left on a user's page. 

That’s because of the legal ambiguity around the ownership of that data (you vs your friends), which may lead to privacy concerns. 

Meanwhile, in a conversation with CNBC, Facebook’s public policy manager Bijan Madhani shared that Facebook plans to continue expanding the tool to enable users to export more of their data to a lot more services and platforms. 

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Via CNBC