The statement establishes that children under 13 (or a higher age threshold set by applicable law) require parental or guardian consent to create a Microsoft account. Microsoft states it will not knowingly collect data from children beyond what is necessary for the product, and will not deliver personalized advertising to users whose account identifies them as under 18.
This analysis describes what Microsoft Azure's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision establishes age-based data protection commitments including an advertising restriction extending to age 18, which exceeds the COPPA threshold of 13. The statement also describes parental controls available through the Family Safety platform and Privacy Dashboard, and specifies a 30-day processing period for authenticated deletion requests and a 60-day account closure delay before permanent deletion.
Microsoft now discloses that it may contact you by phone for marketing using automated dialers and AI-generated voices if you have consented to marketing communications, which represents a new disclosure of contact method and technology type. The company has also reorganized its data retention policy to state it retains data for broader business purposes including improving products and protecting systems, while removing previous specific examples and retention criteria, making it less clear exactly how long specific types of your data will be kept. You should review your consent settings for marketing communications and verify what contact methods you have authorized, particularly if you have concerns about automated or AI-generated calls.
View change record →Microsoft's privacy policy now provides a less detailed explanation of how long your data is retained. Previously, the policy included specific examples, such as how long deleted emails remain in your system before final deletion, and listed criteria for deciding retention periods. Now those details are consolidated into a more general statement pointing readers to separate product documentation. This means you'll need to consult multiple documents to understand retention timelines for specific services, which reduces transparency at the point of reading the main privacy policy.
View change record →Microsoft's updated retention policy provides greater specificity about how long your data persists and under what conditions it is deleted. The policy now explicitly states that deleted items from OneDrive and Outlook.com may remain in Microsoft's systems for up to 30 days before permanent removal, even after you empty the Deleted Items folder. Additionally, the updated terms clarify that retention periods depend on whether you have an expectation that Microsoft will keep the data until you actively remove it, and whether automated controls exist to let you access and delete data yourself. You can review Microsoft's privacy dashboard to exercise available deletion controls and understand which services retain your data under these criteria.
View change record →⚠ Children's accounts without parental consent setup will not have access to Family Safety controls, and parents will not be able to manage the child's data through the Privacy Dashboard unless the child's account is added to the family group.
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Children's Data Protections and Parental Consent and similar clauses.
Compare across platforms →"For users under the age of 13 or as specified by law in their jurisdiction, certain Microsoft products and services will either block users under that age or require parental or guardian consent or authorization before use, including when creating an account. We will not knowingly ask children under the age of consent to provide more data than is necessary to provide the product. As mentioned in the Advertising section, we do not deliver personalized advertising to children whose birthdate in their Microsoft account identifies them as under 18 years of age.Excerpt from Microsoft Azure's Microsoft Privacy
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This provision establishes age-based data protection commitments including an advertising restriction extending to age 18, which exceeds the COPPA threshold of 13. The statement also describes parental controls available through the Family Safety platform and Privacy Dashboard, and specifies a 30-day processing period for authenticated deletion requests and a 60-day account closure delay before permanent deletion.
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