When you delete your Microsoft account, Microsoft may retain some of your personal data for a period of time before it is permanently deleted, and certain data may be retained longer for legal or business reasons.
Closing your Microsoft account does not mean your data is immediately erased; some information may persist in Microsoft's systems for weeks, months, or longer depending on the data type.
Retention periods following account closure must comply with GDPR storage limitation principles (Art. 5(1)(e)) and CCPA deletion rights (ยง 1798.105); compliance teams should obtain Microsoft's data retention schedule and verify it aligns with organisational data minimisation obligations.
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Microsoft collects extensive personal data โ including location, voice recordings, typed content, browsing history, and health-related data โ across its entire product ecosystem, and uses this data for personalised advertising, product improvement, and AI model training. Data may be shared with third-party partners, advertisers, and other Microsoft-affiliated companies, and some data may be retained even after account deletion. You can review, download, or delete your personal data by visiting account.microsoft.com/privacy and adjusting settings via the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard.