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The statement authorizes Microsoft to share collected personal data with named third-party advertising partners including Facebook, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Taboola, Outbrain, and Media.net for purposes of delivering personalized advertising across Microsoft and third-party properties. The list is described as non-exhaustive.
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 discloses data flows to a named but non-exhaustive list of third-party advertising companies, with data used for cross-site behavioral advertising. The non-exhaustive characterization means additional advertising partners beyond those named may receive personal data under these terms.
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 →Under this provision, personal data including browsing activity, demographic data, search queries, and device identifiers may be shared with third-party advertising partners including Facebook, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Taboola, Outbrain, and Media.net. Users can opt out of third-party personalized ad data sharing via Microsoft's third-party ad settings page or by enabling the Global Privacy Control browser signal.
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"We may provide collected data to internal and external partners, including Xandr, other subsidiaries and affiliates, Yahoo, Facebook, or Trade Desk to help make sure the ads you see in our products and theirs, or on other sites, are more relevant to you. These companies currently include, but are not limited to: Facebook, Media.net, Outbrain, Taboola and Yahoo.Excerpt from Microsoft's Privacy Statement (Legacy)
(1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision implicates GDPR Article 6 (lawful basis) and Article 28/26 (controller-processor and joint controller relationships) for EU/EEA data flows to third-party advertising partners. CCPA requires disclosure of categories of personal information shared with third parties and provides opt-out rights for sale or sharing of personal information. The FTC Act governs unfair or deceptive practices in third-party data sharing disclosures. EU cookie consent requirements under the ePrivacy Directive apply to behavioral advertising cookies placed by these third parties on Microsoft sites. (2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The disclosure of named advertising partners satisfies basic transparency requirements under CCPA and GDPR. However, the non-exhaustive characterization of the partner list and the broad data categories shared (search queries, browsing history, demographic data, purchase history) create compliance monitoring obligations. The inclusion of cross-site data sharing with major social media and advertising platforms engages GDPR joint controllership analysis. (3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU/EEA users face heightened exposure where consent is required for behavioral advertising under the ePrivacy Directive and GDPR. California users have CCPA rights to opt out of sharing of personal information with third parties for advertising. UK users are subject to ICO guidance on real-time bidding and programmatic advertising data flows. Illinois users should note that biometric data, if shared with advertising partners, would engage BIPA. (4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations that integrate Microsoft advertising services should conduct vendor assessments for each named advertising partner, including reviewing data processing agreements and confirming that onward data transfers comply with applicable data protection law. The non-exhaustive partner list creates ongoing due diligence obligations as the list may change without specific notice. (5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should audit cookie consent mechanisms on Microsoft-integrated properties to ensure behavioral advertising consent is obtained where required. Data mapping should document the specific data categories shared with each named advertising partner. Privacy notices presented to EU and UK users should reflect the scope of third-party advertising data flows disclosed in this statement.
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This provision discloses data flows to a named but non-exhaustive list of third-party advertising companies, with data used for cross-site behavioral advertising. The non-exhaustive characterization means additional advertising partners beyond those named may receive personal data under these terms.
Under this provision, personal data including browsing activity, demographic data, search queries, and device identifiers may be shared with third-party advertising partners including Facebook, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Taboola, Outbrain, and Media.net. Users can opt out of third-party personalized ad data sharing via Microsoft's third-party ad settings page or by enabling the Global Privacy Control browser signal.
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