Social media companies could be required to make user data moveable to other platforms
Senators introduced draft laws Tuesday.
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The new ACCESS Act would apply to platforms with over 100 million active monthly users in the US.
Three senators have introduced draft laws that could require social media companies to ensure consumers have a way to move their personal data to other platforms when they want to, Axios reported earlier Tuesday. Things like friends lists and profile information should be exportable to other competing platforms. Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal are leading the charge.
If passed, the law would be called the Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act and would apply to platforms with more than 100 million active monthly users in the US.
Under the bill, social media platforms could also be forced to make their systems interoperable with others.
"If a large communications platform provider uses an interoperability interface between its own platforms and services, it must offer an equivalent interface to competitors," the bill says.