Instagram has been under fire over the past few weeks, as part of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal – and that’s because Instagram is owned by Facebook. Many users complained that Instagram did not allow users to download their content and take it elsewhere. As well as Europe adding new regulations for social media platforms like Instagram, forcing this tool to be made. This tool was required for Instagram to be in compliance with Europe’s GDPR privacy laws, which start next month in the region. So while users did want it, Instagram had to make it anyways.
This tool will allow you to download all pictures, videos, comments and likes on your account. Instagram says that it can only deal with one request from your account at a time. So if you share an account with others (maybe a brand account), make sure only one person requests the data download. Instagram also says that this may take up to 48 hours to complete. That is obviously for larger accounts that have thousands of posts, and many thousands (if not millions) of followers. When the download is ready, Instagram will email you a link to download your data.
Instagram still really doesn’t have a competitor out there, so it’s unclear where users may take this data too, but it is great that Instagram has given users the option to download this data and take it wherever they want – perhaps they want to download the content and have it stored locally. It’s a good move for Instagram, especially in light of what has been happening with Facebook in the past month or two with Cambridge Analytica. Which is to keep Instagram on the right side of the law and keeping its users happy. Instagram has over 800 million users right now, and it’s still growing. While there’s no real competitor to Instagram right now, it really wouldn’t hurt the company much to allow users to download their content.
