Google is set to enhance its data transfer capabilities within the Takeout feature, introducing direct data transfers for YouTube in 2024, as part of its response to an investigation by Italian competition regulators.
The investigation stemmed from a complaint filed by an Italian startup specializing in data exports, highlighting concerns about the portability of Google data. In light of this, Google has made three commitments to address the concerns raised, which have been accepted by the regulators, effectively concluding the investigation.
The first two commitments entail the addition of new features to Google Takeout, allowing users to facilitate the export of data to third-party operators, and simplifying the data transfer process. The third commitment focuses specifically on enabling direct data portability from one service to another, notably concerning user-generated data from Google Search and YouTube.
This third commitment seems to align with Google’s existing efforts under the Data Transfer Initiative (formerly known as the Data Transfer Project), which facilitates seamless user data transfers between services. For example, users can move their Google Photos library to iCloud/Apple Photos or vice versa without the need for manual downloads and uploads. Such automation preserves bandwidth and expedites the transfer process.
The extension of this concept to YouTube raises intriguing possibilities, as Google Takeout already allows users to download uploaded YouTube videos, search history, and comments. The exact scope of this expansion remains to be revealed.
The commitments submitted by Google have been praised by the Authority, as they promise significant automation in the data export process and improved interoperability, enabling data in the Google ecosystem to be accessible on third-party platforms.
Google has announced that the “direct service-to-service portability solution” will be available in Q1 2024. It’s worth noting that in 2022, the company pledged $3 million and dedicated engineering efforts to the Data Transfer Project, and the forthcoming launch could be the realization of this commitment.
