Google is making a promise to make it easier for users to export their data. This way, the tech giant can settle an investigation by the Italian competition authority.
About a year ago, the Italian competition authority, the AGCM, opened an investigation into Google. The tech giant was sued by the local direct marketing platform, Weople. Google was accused of making it unnecessarily complicated to export data to another environment. Exporting data at Google is done through the process Takeout.
Automation and a new API
Google is now putting an end to the investigation by making three promises. One is to automate the Takeout procedure by making a preselection of the data a user shares. For this, the tech giant considers each user’s preferences for sharing data with third parties specifically. The third party will then receive the data in a single file that uses a standard storage format so it can be easily read. Furthermore, Google promises to provide third parties with more detailed information about the data fields of users’ search results and Chrome and YouTube search history.
Finally, Google says it is developing an entirely new API to simplify data transfer. To the AGCM, it promises early access which means they will make the API available at least six months before the official release. Public availability should be there, by the first quarter of 2024.
Prepared for the DMA
Google’s promises to the AGCM are likely to be brought to Europe in their entirety. This is because of the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) that imposes rules around the data treatment of users. It remains to be seen whether these suspicions are correct until the API becomes available.
Commenting to Reuters, the giant already revealed that the company is working on several fronts to simplify data transfer ‘broadly in a way that improves the user experience while protecting users’ privacy and security’.