INSTAGRAM SOON WILL ALLOW IT’S USERS TO DOWNLOAD THEIR DATA

Instagram is taking a leaf from parent company Facebook’s *ahem* book, and allowing users to download a copy of their own data, including photos and messages. The tool could help Instagram users monitor how much of their data is on the platform. It will also help Facebook, which owns Instagram, comply with the forthcoming European data privacy rule, General Data Protection Regulation, which will require all data to be portable. Portability could facilitate the rise of legitimate competitors to Instagram, or at least let users back up their content on an image storage app or their own computer. Another big question is whether the downloaded videos and photos will be in the full resolution they were uploaded or a compressed resolution that won’t make them suitable for easily switching to an alternative service. Instagram told TechCrunch that it’ll have more of these details available in the future.

Assuming the downloaded data is robust enough, this is a win for users who can use the feature as a backup tool and a way to simplify leaving the service for another.

By: Swati Kaushal

Content: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-instagram-data/instagram-to-allow-users-to-download-their-data-idUSKBN1HI35F