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D

Skype

Serious concerns
Microsoft · 🇺🇸 United States
PolicyApp PermissionsNetwork TrafficFirmwareRegulatory
Technical details
App: Skype
Manufacturer: Microsoft

The bottom line

22 years of conversations. Contacts built over two decades. Shared files, call history, memories. Microsoft is shutting Skype down and herding everyone to Teams. Migrate or lose it all. Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype, then killed it. Your communication history is a migration deadline.

Legal jurisdiction
🇺🇸 United States (headquarters)
⚠CLOUD Act read more →
US govt can demand your data from this company even if stored overseas
⚠FISA §702 / PRISM read more →
NSA collects stored emails, photos, messages without individual warrants
●Geofence warrants read more →
Police can demand location data for everyone near a crime scene
Spying
0/4 N/A
Is someone spying on me?
Data Sharing
0/4 N/A
Who gets my data?
Security
0/4 N/A
Is it actually secure?
Honesty
1/4 LOW
Can I trust what they say?
OK Minor or no concerns found.
1Contradictions
0Critical
1High
0Medium
5Sources
Findings by concern
Honesty 1/4 LOW 1 finding
⚡ highmarketing vs regulatory
22 years of conversations. Contacts built over two decades. Shared files, call history, memories. Microsoft is shutting Skype down and herding everyone to Teams. Migrate or lose it all. Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype, then killed it. Your communication history is a migration deadline.

What they claim: Microsoft promoted Skype as the way to stay connected for over two decades

What we found: Microsoft announced Skype's shutdown in May 2025, forcing 300+ million users to migrate to Microsoft Teams. 22 years of chat history, contacts, and shared files — users were given months to migrate or lose everything. Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, then slowly starved it of features while building Teams. The company that bought your communication platform killed it and forced you to a different product.

What happened to real people
Documented incidents involving Microsoft products and user data.
First PRISM participant (2007). 31% of US legal demands come with secrecy orders — 1,974 gag orders in H1 2025 alone. Users never told their data was demanded. [source]
Storm-0558: Chinese hackers used a stolen Microsoft signing key to access US government officials' email accounts. Microsoft's own infrastructure was the attack vector. [source]
What your data is worth to governments
Microsoft complied with 6,288 government data requests in H1 2025. That's 31% of demands include secrecy orders. Microsoft has been a confirmed PRISM participant since 2007. Under this programme, the NSA collects stored communications. The company is legally prohibited from telling you. Jurisdiction: US (CLOUD Act, FISA Section 702, Patriot Act).
Documented: First PRISM participant (2007). 31% of US legal demands come with secrecy orders — 1,974 gag orders in H1 2025 alone. Users never told their data was demanded.
Documented: Storm-0558: Chinese hackers used a stolen Microsoft signing key to access US government officials' email accounts. Microsoft's own infrastructure was the attack vector.
What is PRISM? · What is the CLOUD Act? · Transparency report
Sources