Incident #118A80 · 02 APR 2026notable

Copilot privacy policy loosens retention rules and drops specific Bing and advertising retention limits

AI training: reworded✓ Machine-checked

The retention section was rewritten into a shorter, more general list of factors. It now lists improving and developing products and operating the business as reasons to keep personal data. Specific figures, such as the 6/18-month de-identification of Bing queries, the 13-month limit for personalised ad data and the 30-day deletion window, no longer appear in the changed text.

Taken from you

30-day final deletion window for emptied items no longer stated
Retention now allowed for broader purposes like operating the business and improving and developing products

Won back

Clearer pointer to product documentation for retention details

Evidence · 4 of 4 quotes matched in source

We also retain personal data for other legitimate purposes such as 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.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source

~~For personalised advertising, we retain data for no more than 13 months, unless we obtain your consent to retain the data longer.~~− struck · ✓ matched in source

We de-identify stored search queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers that are used to identify a particular account or device after 18 months.− struck · ✓ matched in source

~~If there is not, a shortened data retention time will generally be adopted.~~− struck · ✓ matched in source

Archived version ↗ · 607 words changed

Copilot privacy policy loosens retention rules and drops specific Bing and advertising retention limits

Taken from you

Won back

Microsoft Copilot: where you stand today