Big tech firms agree on ‘data portability’

San Francisco : Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter unveiled plans Friday to make it easier for users to take their personal data and leave one online service for another.

The “Data Transfer Project” revealed by the companies responds to concerns about the growing influence of internet platforms and internet user concerns about control of their personal information shared online.

“Users should be in control of their data on the web, part of this is the ability to move their data,” the companies said on the project website.