Facebook said Monday it’s rolling out a way for users to transfer their posts and notes to Google Documents, Blogger and WordPress.com, a move that could help ease concerns that the social network uses its monopoly power to squash rivals.
The world’s largest social media company, along with other tech companies such as Amazon and Google, have faced allegations from regulators and lawmakers that they engage in illegal anti-competitive behavior. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission and 48 attorneys general filed separate lawsuits in federal court accusing Facebook of illegally stifling its competition by snapping up its rivals and harming consumers with weaker privacy protections. They also noted how users have a tough time moving their information from Facebook to other platforms, forcing people to stay on the social network.
Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s director of privacy and policy, said in blog post that they hope to “advance conversations with policy makers, developers and experts” about making it easier for people to transfer their data to other platforms.
“We plan to continue expanding our data types and partners in the future. However, the ecosystem we are building to support data portability will not come to fruition without regulation that clarifies which data should be made portable and who is responsible for protecting data once it has been transferred,” he said.
To access transfer your posts and notes, users should visit their settings and click on “Your Facebook Information” followed by “Transfer Your Information.” Then you enter your password and click down on “choose destination” to pick the platform you want to transfer your Facebook posts and notes to. After logging into that service, users will be asked to “confirm transfer.”
Facebook already allows users to transfer photos to Google Photos, Dropbox, Backblaze and Koofr. Users can also download a copy of the information they’ve provided Facebook.
Source: cnet