The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduces data portability rights that give businesses and users fair and real-time access to valuable data from large online platforms, the Gatekeepers. These rights are designed to open up digital markets, boost innovation, and enhance user control.
Article 6(9) relates to the transfer of user data to authorised third-party businesses.
What does Article 6(9) mean?
Gatekeepers must provide end users and third parties they authorise with:
- Portability of data that users have provided or generated while using their platform
- Free tools to make portability easy
- Continuous and real-time access to that data
How does Article 6(9) work in practice?
In practice, with the user’s permission, third-party businesses can now build services that:
- Let users transfer their data directly and automatically from a gatekeeper’s platform to the third-party app
- Offer personalised experiences or complementary services based on users’ activity data
- Enable seamless switching between platforms without losing user history or content
As an example, if you are an authorised third-party business:
- What: a user can share their Google Search history with you
- How: Google’s new Data Portability API allows you to obtain user authorisation and retrieve the Search data
- When: You can access the data at any moment via the Data Portability API
- How long: The user decides the duration, up to 180 days per authorisation
- Cost: Free of charge
Useful links
Alphabet
- Data Portability API – various resources
- Data Portability API – Feedback/request of access to further scopes
Amazon
- Data Portability API for end users
- Data Portability API for authorised third parties
- Request additional data categories
Apple
App Store
iOS and iPadOS
Safari
Booking
Bytedance
Meta
Microsoft
- General feedback: DMAFeedback
microsoft [dot] com (DMAFeedback[at]microsoft[dot]com)