Salesforce-owned messaging platform Slack has reportedly restricted software companies from searching or storing messages on its platform, even with customer consent.

This information comes from a report by The Information on June 10, 2025.

The report cited a public disclosure and explained that firms are now only allowed to temporarily access and store Slack data, with a requirement to delete it afterward.

This move is reportedly aimed at enhancing customer privacy.

The Information also suggested that Salesforce may intend to use Slack customer data internally for purposes such as developing AI products.

This development arises amid growing scrutiny of how AI companies manage personal and customer data, especially in training machine learning models.

Salesforce has not commented on the report, and Reuters has not independently verified the claims.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Strategic data control emerges as competitive edge in AI era

Salesforce’s move to restrict third-party access to Slack messages reflects a growing trend where platform owners are asserting greater control over user data, especially as AI development accelerates.

This trend extends to other major tech platforms that increasingly position themselves as privacy guardians while reserving data access for their own AI initiatives.

The timing is notable as companies face what Stanford researchers describe as “evolving landscape of data privacy in the context of AI advancements,” where data access has become a strategic asset 1.

By citing privacy concerns while potentially preserving data access for their own AI development, Salesforce follows a familiar approach seen across the tech industry, where data access is both a privacy matter and a competitive lever.

This highlights the growing recognition that proprietary data access creates competitive advantages in developing AI capabilities, particularly as Benioff pushes Salesforce “beyond traditional cloud computing and towards data-driven machine learning.”

2️⃣ Corporate messaging platforms face growing regulatory pressures