Which is why I download the Takeout backup monthly.
Oooh... looks like they now have an option on Takeout to automatically do an export every two months, and send it to a third-party provider (your choice of Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive).
Good luck trying to use it.
What do you mean? They make great XML readers now a days! /s
They have to provide it by law under GDPR and other directives in the EU.
They can also just delete the data. That would solve it too. (for them)
No, because that would be contrary to data portability requirements. Deleting the data would only be appropriate for PII