Social Media Firms May Be Forced To Let Users Move Personal Data To Other Platfroms

A group of senators has proposed draft law requiring social media firms to make sure their users can transfer their personal information at any time they wish to, according to a report from Axios on Tuesday. Consumers should have the ability to export their profile information, friend lists as well as other data to competing platforms. Leading this charge are three senators namely Josh Hawley from the Republican Party, along with Richard Blumenthal and Mark Warner from Democratic Party.

If the draft laws are passed, it would go in effect under the name Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act. Additionally, the laws would be effective for social networks that have over 100 million users active every month in the United States.

Moreover, this bill may force social media companies to allow their systems to exchange data with other systems.

As stated in the bill, if a major media firm makes use of an interoperability interface between services and its platforms, the firm must provide an equivalent interface for competitors.

User data security on social media has been a concerning problem, especially since the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light in early 2018. In the major data breach, the UK company managed to harvest data from up to 87 million Facebook accounts, which was reportedly used to manipulate the elections that year. Facebook, along with other social platforms, has been under scrutiny for the way they handle user data, with many data breaches revealed.