Google: Google Cloud announces removal of exit fees

In a blog post shared on Thursday, Google Cloud Platform announced that it has removed "exit fees" for customers wishing to leave its services.

Amit Zavery, head of platform at Google Cloud wrote: "Starting today, Google Cloud customers who wish to stop using Google Cloud and migrate their data to another cloud provider and/or on-premises, can take advantage of free network data transfer to migrate their data out of Google Cloud. This applies to all customers globally."

Zavery noted that "restrictive and unfair licensing practices" are a fundamental issue and that "certain legacy providers" leverage on these monopolies to "lock in customers and warp competition." He added that it was unfair for customers to be locked in with a provider due to "overly restrictive contracting terms or punitive licensing practices."

The company's website adds: "Google Cloud reserves the right to audit movement of customers' data away from Google Cloud for compliance with program terms and conditions."