> To further strengthen the control over his or her own data, where the processing of personal data is carried out by automated means, the data subject should also be allowed to receive personal data concerning him or her which he or she has provided to a controller in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable and interoperable format, and to transmit it to another controller. Data controllers should be encouraged to develop interoperable formats that enable data portability. [...] Where technically feasible, the data subject should have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another. [1]
To me this sounds pretty similar to what we can see on Github.
[1]: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A...
Also our monopolies can be ported easily so there is no need to call us a monopoly or keep mentioning things like make us a public utility that has to follow anyone's rules but our own.
Some positive PR in the sea of "they are evil for this and that and that and..." - hey we're open.
The GDPR thing has a mandate in it that personal data must be exportable doesn't it? So, two birds, one stone, add some positive PR.
Just guessing..
Lets hope this doesn't turn out how G and Fb bragged about xmpp or whatever until they didn't need it any more and then your data and comms stopped being as interchangeable as it once was.
The pessimist in me says it's so each of them can create a more complete user profile for marketing, advertising, and tracking.
My more optimist side says that Facebook, Google, MS, and Twitter are all tech giants filled people intimately familiar with the web and its immediate future, and the majority of them are genuinely trying to improve the internet.
As usual, the answer probably includes both factors, and likely others.