New Teams update by Microsoft sparks privacy debate

Microsoft is preparing to release updates to Teams, Microsoft 365, and Copilot that include new productivity tools. A feature that determines employees' locations based on their connection to corporate Wi-Fi has drawn the most attention, sparking a discussion about privacy. This feature allows colleagues to see where employees are.

This was reported by BGR.

When and how it will work

According to Microsoft's roadmap, deployment is scheduled for December 2025. The company describes the process as follows: the location status in Teams will automatically update when a user connects to the organization's network. Currently, few technical details are available. It is unclear whether employers will be able to see their employees' locations outside the office, such as in a coffee shop, as the emphasis is on office networks.

Some observers suggest that the feature may rely on IP addresses, meaning that typical strategies like changing SSIDs at home won't be effective. Microsoft specifies two restrictions: administrators must enable the feature separately in the company environment, and end users must agree to participate. Support is announced for Windows and macOS.

With 320 million users, Teams is one of the key corporate hubs for video communication, chat, calendaring, and shared documents. Amid competition from Google, Zoom, and Slack, Microsoft has been layering AI capabilities into Teams in recent years. The controversy surrounding the geolocation update remains to be seen, but similar tools have already been introduced: in January 2025, Teams began identifying the floor level when a user connected to office peripherals or "bring your own device" rooms. Another new feature, Benchmarks, enables Copilot to monitor AI usage at the enterprise level.

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