You have a right to access personal data about you, correct it, obtain a copy of it, or ask us to delete or restrict its use in certain circumstances. Microsoft provides a Privacy Dashboard at account.microsoft.com/privacy where you can view and control the personal data associated with your Microsoft account.
Why it matters
The Privacy Dashboard gives consumers a practical tool to exercise their data rights, but the scope of what can be deleted is limited — some data essential to service delivery or required by law cannot be erased, meaning full data deletion is not always achievable.
Consumer impact
Microsoft collects a wide range of personal data — including location, voice recordings, search queries, browsing history, and content you create — across all its products and uses this data for advertising personalisation, AI training, and product improvement. Users with a Microsoft account have rights to access, correct, delete, and export their data, and can opt out of interest-based advertising, but many data uses are bundled under broad legitimate interest or contractual necessity grounds that cannot be individually declined. You can review, download, and delete your personal data, and adjust advertising and diagnostic data settings, by visiting the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard at account.microsoft.com/privacy.
What you can do
⚠️ These actions may provide transparency or partial mitigation but may not fully address the underlying issue. Effectiveness varies by jurisdiction and individual circumstances.
Export Your Data
Sign in to your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com/privacy, select 'Download your data' to export a copy of your personal data, or navigate to specific activity categories to view and delete individual data types.
Delete Your Data
Sign in to your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com/privacy, navigate to 'Activity History', select the data type you wish to delete (e.g. search history, location history, browsing history), and choose 'Clear activity'.
Applicable agencies
FTC
The FTC enforces consumer data rights under FTC Act Section 5 and has authority over companies that fail to honour stated data access and deletion commitments in their privacy policies.
State Attorneys General enforce state comprehensive privacy laws including CCPA/CPRA (California), CPA (Colorado), CDPA (Virginia), and CTDPA (Connecticut) which provide consumers with access, deletion, and portability rights.