Facebook-owned Instagram now allows users to download all of their data like photos, videos, archived Stories, profile, info, comments, direct messages and more. The feature can currently be accessed on the web and as per TechCrunch, will soon roll out for the Instagram app for iOS and Android. It is said to take anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days for your data download to get ready. WhatsApp has also announced that the same feature will be available for its users with the next app update as part of the GDPR privacy law compliance. Users will be able to download their data, which includes profile photos and group names. The company reiterates that it does not share its user's data with Facebook for improving their ads experience.
On Instagram, one can head over here and enter their email ID in order to download their user data. Do note that the email ID is the same one, which was used to register for the Instagram account. Once the request is submitted, the website states, “We’ll email you a link to a file with your photos, comments, profile information and more. We can only work on one request from your account at a time, and it may take up to 48 hours to collect this data and send it to you.”
The new announcements come soon after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that all of its services will now comply with the European Union’s GDPR privacy law, which will come into effect on May 25, and in the wake of the recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The data portability rule falls under EU’s GDPR privacy law and hence Instagram is now allowing its 800 million plus users to download their data, in case they decide to quit the social media platform.
Speaking of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Zuckerberg was summoned before the US Congress to answer some questions surrounding the fiasco. In a written testimony to the US Congress, the Facebook CEO said that he was "responsible for" not preventing the social media platform from being used for harm, including fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech. He also promised to get rid of the vulnerabilities on the social media platform and tried to defend himself by listing the measures Facebook had taken for protecting its user's privacy in past years. You can read more about it here.