Instagram users will soon be able to download all the data that the platform has on them, including photos, videos, messages and more. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that the platform is working on a data portability tool, similar to Facebook’s download your information tool which allows users to backup and save an offline copy of their entire Facebook data.
Instagram’s move to allow users access to all their data on the platform comes after its parent company Facebook was hit by serious allegations of user privacy breach. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already admitted that the social network did not do enough to protect user privacy, resulting in a data leak of 87 million users. Following the revelation of the leaks, multiple Facebook users opted to delete their accounts from the platform and there was a spike in queries on the internet about how to download everything already uploaded on Facebook. Since Facebook owns Instagram, the latter had also started facing pressure to make a data download tool available to its users. Given that Facebook is currently under major scrutiny and the fact that it has agreed to comply with European data privacy rule – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the company seems to be tying up all the loose ends, the new Instagram data portability feature being one of them.
TechCrunch reports that Instagram’s upcoming information download tool will allow users to quickly move to another competing platform if they ever choose to quit Instagram. However, It is not clear if Instagram users will be able to export their following and followers lists, likes, comments, stories, and post captions.
Instagram has promised that more information on the data portability tool will be available once it is actually launched.