instagram 'copied' snapchat and now it's going to make it easy for you to pack up all your content and go

it’s been a tough week for mark zuckerberg who began testifying before members of congress on tuesday regarding facebook‘s usage of personal data. to make things even worse, it was reported on the same day that zuckerberg asked instagram founders to build a feature similar to snapchat’s ‘stories’ feature. don’t worry though, in your post #deletefacebook state, if the pain of finding out this extra info is just too real it seems instagram will soon let you pack up all your content and leave too.

image courtesy of facebook.

let’s start with the copy-cat caims. according to a report by bloomberg’s sarah frier, the facebook founder expressed worry that if instagram didn’t copy snapchat to evolve it risked losing an entire generation of users. the article goes into further detail with one source explaining that instagram’s founders initially refused to ‘copy’ snapchat before being personally requested by zuckerberg to replicate snapchat’s stories. a spokesperson for instagram denied the claims.

the recent hoo-hahs when it comes to social networks have planted a few seeds of distrust to say the least. zuckerberg’s admittance when it comes to facebook’s gathering and sharing of private data has driven the #deletefacebook movement encouraging users to find out exactly what facebook knows about them. this scrutiny when it comes to privacy and freedom of information are hot topics which is perhaps why instagram seems soon to let its walls down. a spokesperson for instagram has recently told techcrunch  of a data portability feature it is working on. according to their reports users will soon be able to download a copy of what they’ve shared including photos, videos and messages. exact reports on how the tool will work are yet to be confirmed but it seems it will have to be available before may 25th, if it wants to comply with upcoming european GDPR privacy law that requires data portability.