Channels, threads and direct messages
Sell workplace data to AI? What your chat platform's terms keep
We read 19 documents from 13 workplace chat platforms, the newest on 2026-10-28: 10 say a workspace's messages are the customer's, and 6 keep a right to use them once aggregated or de-identified.
Source: Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source
- 10 of 13
- chat platforms whose terms leave the workspace's messages with the customer (Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
- 6 of 13
- workplace chat platforms keeping an aggregated or de-identified use (Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
- 2
- chat platforms naming a number of days to retrieve messages after leaving (Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
- 2026-10-28
- newest read of the chat platforms' terms on this board (Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Workplace chat platform terms on your messages, platform by platform
Last updated
One row per chat platform, each answer standing on a sentence from the document linked beside it. Not stated means the document we read is silent on the question; varies means the platform's documents answer it differently.
Each vendor's own published terms were read through estate-fetch and stored whole (sha256 on every row). For every document, four questions were answered from the vendor's own words: who owns the business's data, vendor keeps aggregated or anonymised use, training AI on the business's data, export at exit. Every stated answer carries the sentence it rests on, checked against the stored text; 'not stated' means the document read does not address the question. A vendor with several documents reads 'varies' where they disagree. 13 vendors, 19 documents.
| Chat platform | Who owns the messages | De-identified or aggregated use kept | Training AI on the messages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37signals (Basecamp, Campfire) | the business | not stated | not stated | Terms of Service |
| CAKE.com (Pumble) | the business | reserved | will not train | Terms of Use |
| Dialpad | not stated | not stated | not stated | Terms of Service |
| Discord | the business | reserved | may train | Terms of Service |
| Doist (Twist, Todoist) | the business | reserved | not stated | Terms of Service |
| Lark | the business | not stated | not stated | User Terms of Service |
| Matrix.org | the business | not stated | not stated | Homeserver Terms |
| Mattermost | not stated | reserved | not stated | Software and Services License Agreement |
| Microsoft Teams | not stated | not stated | not stated | Export content with the Microsoft Teams Export APIs |
| RingCentral | the business | not stated | not stated | Online Terms of Service |
| Slack | the business | reserved | opt-out offered | Privacy principles: search, learning and AI |
| Zoom | the business | reserved | will not train | Terms of Service |
| Zulip | the business | not stated | not stated | Terms of Service |
- 6 of 13 workplace chat platforms whose terms we read up to 2026-10-28 keep a right to use customer data in aggregated or de-identified form. (Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Cite this page
“Workplace chat platform terms on your messages, platform by platform”, Sell Workplace Data to AI, https://sellworkplacedatatoai.com/ (updated 2026-10-28). Each vendor's own published terms were read through estate-fetch and stored whole (sha256 on every row). For every document, four questions were answered from the vendor's own words: who owns the business's data, vendor keeps aggregated or anonymised use, training AI on the business's data, export at exit. Every stated answer carries the sentence it rests on, checked against the stored text; 'not stated' means the document read does not address the question. A vendor with several documents reads 'varies' where they disagree. 13 vendors, 19 documents.
Three steps
- Say which chat tools the team used, for how long, and whether the company is trading, closing or being sold.
- We read that platform's clauses on our board and the monitoring and personal data laws that apply to staff messages.
- We reply with the route that fits: a licence while the company trades, a sale of a closing company's history by its directors or office-holder, or a route agreed with the adviser who sent you.
No chat platform or data buyer pays for a listing here, and there are no affiliate links. Every answer is our reading of the published document, not legal advice about your workspace. Our fee, if the company licenses its workplace data to a buyer we introduced, is 12.5% of the deal, with a minimum, when we are its exclusive agent, or 10%, with a minimum, when its chat history is bundled or pooled, set in writing beforehand; any fee from a buyer is credited back to the company.
Tell us about your team's chat history
Frequently asked
Who owns the messages in a company's Slack or Teams workspace?
Under the terms we read, usually the company that holds the account: 10 of the 13 chat platforms on our board say so. Slack's privacy principles say customers own their own customer data, and Zoom's terms that you retain all ownership rights in your customer content. The people who wrote the messages are still the subject of personal data law, set out below.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Do chat platforms train AI on our messages?
Their answers differ. Zoom does not use chat, attachments or other communications-like content to train its own or third-party AI models, and CAKE.com, which runs Pumble, says the same. Slack trains its global models on customer data unless the customer opts out, and does not train generative AI models on it without opt-in consent. Discord uses reported and public content to build models that detect prohibited conduct.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
How do we get the chat history out after we leave a platform?
Zoom and CAKE.com each give thirty calendar days after termination to retrieve customer content. Zulip lets organisation administrators export the data for archive or backup, and 37signals asks for any export before an account is cancelled. Lark and Dialpad delete an account's information when it ends, so take the export while the workspace is live.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Which buyers ask for Slack and Teams data?
Nyne asks for full conversation histories from Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat, with threads, participants and reply structure kept intact. Mercor lists Slack workspace messages, channels and threads, Maryah team conversations and the decisions they reach, and Polyshares puts Slack and Teams first in its list of operating data.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Does a company need its staff's consent to license their messages?
The laws we read do not ask for one consent; they ask different things. Connecticut and New York require prior written notice to employees of electronic monitoring. UK interception law exempts a person with the right to control a private system, and the UK's data protection rules ask a business to tell people how their information is used, including when it is shared with other organisations. Buyers strip identifiers first.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
What should not go into a workplace data licence?
Anything that identifies the people in it. Troveo scrubs names, contact details, credentials and client identities to one documented standard before data is used, and Grepped removes customer names and identifying information before anything leaves processing. HR, payroll and personal channels are best left out of the export altogether.(Workplace chat software data terms: every row, with its source)
Sources
This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:
- Who takes Slack and Teams history for AI training: 5 of 13 organisations whose pages we read name Slack, Teams or another workplace chat tool among the data they take, read 27 October 2026.
- Workplace chat software data terms: 6 of 13 workplace chat software vendors whose terms we read reserve the right to use their customers' data in aggregated or anonymised form, read 28 October 2026.
- The law on reading and passing on staff messages: 3 of 13 US and UK laws we read ask an employer for written notice before monitoring or recording messages, read 28 October 2026.