The statement requires parental consent for account creation by children under 13 (or higher age as required by local law), prohibits personalized advertising to users identified as under 18, and commits to data minimization for children under the applicable age of consent.
This analysis describes what Microsoft'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 a two-tier age framework: COPPA-aligned parental consent at age 13 for account creation, and a broader advertising restriction extending to age 18 based on account birthdate information; the advertising restriction applies only where birthdate is on file in the Microsoft account.
The updated privacy statement removes the previous detailed list of third-party sources from which Microsoft obtains personal data, including data brokers, public social media posts, location service providers, co-branded partners, and developers. Under the revised language, Microsoft describes obtaining data from 'Microsoft affiliates, subsidiaries, and third parties' without specifying the categories or types of third parties as explicitly as before. The company states it has reorganized the document for greater clarity and accessibility, but the operational effect is that users receive less specific disclosure about where their data originates from outside Microsoft.
View change record →The updated policy establishes additional grounds on which Microsoft may retain personal data. While the prior version tied retention to specific user expectations and available deletion controls, the revised language authorizes retention for 'operating our business, meeting our contractual and legal obligations, improving and developing our products and services, protecting the safety and security of our systems and customers, and resolving disputes.' This expands the stated purposes beyond transaction fulfillment and legal compliance. The updated policy directs users to product-specific documentation for retention details rather than providing explicit deletion procedures and timelines in the privacy statement itself.
View change record →The updated policy now grounds data retention in five broad business purposes: operating the business, meeting contractual and legal obligations, improving and developing products and services, protecting system and customer safety, and resolving disputes. Previously, the policy articulated specific criteria for determining retention periods, including customer expectations for retention until manual deletion, availability of automated deletion controls, and data sensitivity. The revised language removes these granular criteria and instead requires users to consult individual product documentation to understand when their specific data will be deleted. This shifts the burden of finding retention timelines from the main policy statement to separate product-specific documents.
View change record →⚠ Children whose birthdate is not on file in a Microsoft account may not receive the under-18 advertising restriction as the terms apply this protection based on account-held birthdate information
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Children and Minors Data Protections and similar clauses.
Compare across platforms →"When a child is under 13-or a higher age if required in their region-the child will need consent from their parent or guardian to create a Microsoft account. 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. We will not knowingly ask children under the age of consent to provide more data than is necessary to provide the product.Excerpt from Microsoft's Privacy Statement (Legacy)
1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages COPPA, which requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal data from children under 13 in the United States and is enforced by the FTC.
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This provision establishes a two-tier age framework: COPPA-aligned parental consent at age 13 for account creation, and a broader advertising restriction extending to age 18 based on account birthdate information; the advertising restriction applies only where birthdate is on file in the Microsoft account.
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