When you upload or share content through Microsoft services, you give Microsoft a broad, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, and share that content, subject to your privacy settings.
This analysis describes what Microsoft Copilot'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 license covers a wide range of uses of user-generated content including creating derivative works, which means Microsoft can use content you create or share in ways beyond simply displaying it back to you.
Interpretive note: The limiting qualifier 'consistent with your privacy and application settings' is not fully defined in the available document text, creating ambiguity about the practical scope of the license.
Content you upload or share across Microsoft services, including files in OneDrive, messages in Teams, or prompts in Copilot, may be subject to this broad license grant, though the agreement qualifies this as consistent with privacy and application settings.
How other platforms handle this
By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you give Miro a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distr...
By submitting content to any TransUnion website or service, you grant TransUnion a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content in any media.
You consent to our use of Your Content to provide the Service Offerings to you and any End Users. We may disclose Your Content to provide the Service Offerings to you or any End Users or to comply with any request of a governmental or regulatory body (including subpoenas or court orders).
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"When you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos or videos) in or in connection with our Services, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).— Excerpt from Microsoft Copilot's Microsoft Copilot Terms of Service
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The breadth of this license grant may require evaluation under GDPR Article 6 lawful basis requirements for EU users, particularly where content constitutes personal data. The terms 'modify' and 'create derivative works' raise questions about whether AI training use of user content is contemplated. CCPA may grant California users rights to understand how their content and associated data is used. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The license is described as consistent with your privacy and application settings, which provides a limiting qualifier, but the substantive scope of permitted uses including sublicensing and derivative works creation is broad. The interaction with AI model training is not explicitly addressed, which is a growing area of regulatory and public interest. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK users may have rights under GDPR to contest certain processing of personal data embedded in user content. California users may have rights under CCPA to understand the uses of their data and content. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Enterprises should assess whether content stored or shared in Microsoft consumer services is subject to this license and whether that creates intellectual property or confidentiality risks. The sublicensable nature of the license means Microsoft may extend these rights to third-party partners. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should review whether the privacy and application settings qualifier is operationally meaningful and whether users have sufficient control over how their content is used. Data mapping exercises should account for user-generated content as a distinct data category with this license attached.
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This license covers a wide range of uses of user-generated content including creating derivative works, which means Microsoft can use content you create or share in ways beyond simply displaying it back to you.
Content you upload or share across Microsoft services, including files in OneDrive, messages in Teams, or prompts in Copilot, may be subject to this broad license grant, though the agreement qualifies this as consistent with privacy and application settings.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 16 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Copilot.