This is Microsoft's master legal agreement covering nearly all of its consumer services, including Outlook email, OneDrive cloud storage, Xbox gaming, Bing search, and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. The most important thing to know is that by using these services you give up your right to sue Microsoft in court or join a class action lawsuit — all disputes must go through private arbitration, but you can opt out within 30 days of first accepting the agreement by mailing a written notice to Microsoft. If you subscribe to any paid Microsoft service, check your auto-renewal settings and review any price-change notices carefully, as Microsoft can change subscription prices with only 30 days' notice before your next billing cycle.
Technical Summary
The Microsoft Services Agreement (MSA) is a binding consumer-facing contract governing access to Microsoft's consumer products and services — including Outlook, OneDrive, Xbox, Bing, Cortana, Microsoft 365, and Skype — under Washington State law with arbitration as the primary dispute resolution mechanism. The most significant user obligations include compliance with Microsoft's Code of Conduct, restrictions on reverse engineering and commercial exploitation of services, and consent to Microsoft's unilateral right to modify or terminate services with as little as 30 days' notice. Notably, the agreement contains a mandatory binding arbitration clause with class action waiver administered by the American Arbitration Association, a broad intellectual property license grant to Microsoft over user-submitted content, and a unilateral price-change right with only 30 days' notice before auto-renewal. The agreement engages the FTC Act Section 5 (unfair/deceptive practices), COPPA (children under 13 require parental consent and are prohibited from independent account creation), CCPA (California residents retain specific data rights), and the EU's GDPR framework via incorporation by reference of the Microsoft Privacy Statement. Material compliance considerations include the enforceability of the arbitration clause under state consumer protection law, the breadth of the content license, and the adequacy of notice for subscription price changes.
If you have a dispute with Microsoft, you must resolve it through private arbitration rather than going to court. This means no jury trial and no judge — a private arbitrator decides your case.
You cannot join or start a class action lawsuit or group arbitration against Microsoft — every dispute must be handled individually, even if thousands of users have the same problem.
When you upload or store content on Microsoft services — like emails in Outlook or files in OneDrive — you give Microsoft a broad, free license to copy, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute that content to operate and improve its products.
Microsoft can change, suspend, or shut down any of its services at any time, and while it will try to give 30 days' notice for full discontinuation, it is not required to give you any notice before suspending your individual access.
Paid Microsoft subscriptions automatically renew and charge your payment method unless you cancel before the renewal date. If Microsoft raises its prices, it will notify you, but you are charged the new price automatically if you do not cancel.
If Microsoft causes you harm, its maximum financial liability is capped at the amount you paid Microsoft in the past 12 months — and it is not liable at all for indirect losses like lost business, lost data, or lost profits.
Microsoft collects data from you and your devices when you use its services, and the full details of what is collected and how it is used are in a separate Privacy Statement — by using any Microsoft service, you consent to this data collection.
Children under 13 cannot create a Microsoft account on their own, and teenagers between 13 and the age of majority in their region must have a parent or guardian agree to the Terms on their behalf.
Microsoft's rules require you to behave lawfully and respectfully when using its services — posting illegal content, harassing others, infringing copyright, or trying to hack Microsoft systems are all prohibited and can result in account termination.
Legal disputes with Microsoft are governed by Washington State law and must be heard in courts in King County, Washington — even if you live elsewhere in the US or internationally, unless you are an EU consumer with additional rights under local law.
Added April 28, 2026
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Account Termination & Content Deletion and similar clauses.