[crazygringo]

> Takeout was released June 28, 2011. GDPR was passed April 14, 2016 and went into effect two years later.

Exactly. It really bothers me that people make these assumptions that all companies are bad and must be forced to do things that help users. And in this case, the author straight-up lies.

Google did NOT do this in response to legal regulations. They launched Takeout before the GDPR was even first proposed, let alone passed. They did it on their own, precisely in response to user desires not to be locked in. You're more likely to start using Google if you always know you can get your data out.