Residents of states including California, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and others have legal rights to access, correct, delete, and opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal data under state privacy laws. Microsoft describes how to exercise these rights.
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
The statement identifies residents of multiple U.S. states as having enforceable privacy rights under applicable state law, including the right to opt out of data sales and sharing for targeted advertising, which is a materially significant right for consumers in those states.
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 →The updated Privacy Statement removes previously stated language about additional rights available to European Economic Area users, narrowing the policy's explicit protections in that region. Simultaneously, the revised terms now explicitly authorize Microsoft to contact users via auto-dialer and prerecorded voice for marketing purposes, provided the user has consented to receive marketing communications to the phone number supplied. This establishes Microsoft's contractual permission to initiate automated marketing calls using artificial intelligence-generated voice technology where user consent to marketing contact has been given.
View change record →If you live in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, or Washington, you may have specific legal rights to access, delete, or opt out of sharing of your personal data. You can exercise these rights through the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard at account.microsoft.com/privacy.
How other platforms handle this
If you are located in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you have the right to access, correct, or erase your personal data; the right to restrict or object to our processing of your personal data; the right to data portability; and, where our processing is based on your...
For individuals in the United States, please also refer to our Notice For Individuals Residing In Certain US States below and the Consumer Health Data Policy.
If you are a California resident, you may have the right to: Know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, sell, or share. Correct inaccurate personal information. Delete your personal information. Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. Limit the use and disclosure ...
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"Residents of U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws (including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington) may have specific rights with respect to their personal information. These rights may include the right to know what personal data we collect, the right to correct or delete personal data, the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data, and the right to non-discrimination for exercising their rights.— Excerpt from Microsoft's Microsoft Privacy Statement (Legacy)
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages CCPA (California), the Colorado Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act, Nevada privacy law, Oregon Consumer Privacy Act, Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, Utah Consumer Privacy Act, Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, and Washington My Health MY Data Act (for health data). Enforcement authorities include the California Privacy Protection Agency and state attorneys general across the named states. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High for organizations operating in multiple U.S. states. The proliferation of state privacy laws creates a patchwork compliance environment. The statement's enumeration of covered states is useful but compliance depends on Microsoft's operational implementation of opt-out mechanisms and data deletion workflows. JURISDICTION FLAGS: California creates the most extensive obligations including CPPA enforcement, annual privacy risk assessments for certain processing, and specific opt-out signal requirements (Global Privacy Control). Washington My Health MY Data Act imposes heightened requirements for consumer health data. Illinois BIPA is not enumerated but may apply separately to biometric data. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations using Microsoft as a service provider must assess whether their own privacy policies and vendor agreements are consistent with the rights described in this statement, particularly regarding data deletion and opt-out request workflows. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should verify that Microsoft's opt-out mechanisms honor Global Privacy Control signals as required in California; assess data deletion timelines against applicable state law requirements; and evaluate whether the statement's rights disclosures satisfy specific state law notice requirements including CCPA's required categories disclosure.
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The statement identifies residents of multiple U.S. states as having enforceable privacy rights under applicable state law, including the right to opt out of data sales and sharing for targeted advertising, which is a materially significant right for consumers in those states.
If you live in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, or Washington, you may have specific legal rights to access, delete, or opt out of sharing of your personal data. You can exercise these rights through the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard at account.microsoft.com/privacy.
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