Can you sell your Slack data for AI training?

Slack lets the account holder export only part of its data, depending on the plan, and its API terms bar using data pulled through the API to train AI, so a sale should start from the holder's own export. The content itself carries high rights risk. This is research from public sources, not legal advice.

The holder's own export
Export is limited
Data pulled through its API
Bars training AI on it
Rights risk of the content
High

What a holder should know

Two separate questions. (1) The admin export is a feature of the customer contract; Slack frames full (private and DM) export as a legal and regulatory compliance tool, so a holder should not assume the export button grants a licence-for-AI purpose, and the export contains every employee's and every external Slack Connect participant's messages. (2) Any pipeline that pulls Slack data through the API (including a broker's connector) is barred from LLM training and bulk export by the 2025 API terms. Hunton (28 July 2025): customers who built internal LLMs on Slack archives may need to redesign unless they negotiated limits on unilateral amendments. In practice the safer route is the JSON export run by the workspace owner rather than an API tool, and the content should be treated as personal data of employees and of other organisations (Slack Connect).

Getting your own data out

Free and Pro: public channels only (Free: file links from last 90 days only). Business+: public channels; full export of private channels and DMs only by application approved by the Primary Owner, framed as for legal and regulatory compliance. Enterprise: Org Owners/Admins, Workspace Owners and members with the Export Admin role; full exports require application.

Workspace Owners and Admins can export messages and file links from public channels in JSON format. [Private channels and DMs: Not available on Free and Pro; on Business+] For legal and regulatory compliance, Workspace Owners can apply to access a self-serve data export tool. Workspace Owners and Org Owners must apply to use these export types. Applications require approval from the Workspace Primary Owner. Workspaces on the Free plan can only export links to files from the last 90 days.

Apps that use its API

Slack API Terms of Service (Effective: October 10, 2025), Data Usage by Third Parties: you may not "(A) use API Data to train a large language model;" or "(B) bulk export Slack message and file data except where expressly allowed by an additional agreement". Data Access API and Real-Time Search API: "you may not create persistent copies, archives, indexes, or long-term data stores of other organizations' API Data."

The sources, word for word

  • Slack API Terms of Service(2025-10-10 (effective); read 2026-10-11)
    “(A) use API Data to train a large language model;”
  • Slack Help: Export your workspace data(read 2026-10-11)
    “Workspace Owners and Org Owners must apply to use these export types.”
  • Hunton Andrews Kurth: Salesforce locks down Slack data(2025-07-28)
    “Salesforce recently modified its Slack API Terms of Service (the Terms) to prohibit (i) bulk exporting of data accessible through the Slack application programming interfaces (APIs), (ii) the creation of persistent copies, archives, indexes or long-term data stores, and (iii) the usage of such data in large language models (LLMs).”

Research from public sources, read on the day shown. It is not legal advice: a sale needs a lawyer who has read the records and the contracts.

What Slack holds that buyers ask for

  • Internal communications

    Email, Slack or Teams history

Who buys it

  • Mode (BizBuyData)

    "The operating history of companies and nonprofits could be worth $100K-$5M."

  • Handshake AI

    "Payouts range from $100K to $4M." Its estimator shows $383,083 to $896,969 for 100 employees and 10 years.

  • Polyshares

    Typical licences of $100K to $2M, sometimes more. Its track record page lists four anonymous licences from $110,000 to $450,000.

  • micro1

    $100k+ for a qualified partnership, $500k+ for large or multi-team datasets, $1M+ for highly unique data.

  • Scale AI

    "$10K–$1M+ illustrative value per data partnership", scaling with how often data is delivered.

  • SuperAnnotate

    "Indicative $100K – $1M+", priced on rarity, depth and exclusivity.

Every buyer and its published terms

What your Slack records are worth, and what to settle before anyone sees them.

Value your dataCheck your rights

In this topic

Rights and law

  1. Start hereCan this data legally be sold or licensed for AI training?Privacy law, copyright and fair use, software vendors' terms, de-identification, bankruptcy sales and what a licence agreement holds.
  2. GuideIs It Legal to Sell Customer Data? A US Guide for AI TrainingOften yes, but through layers: your privacy policy, the FTC Act, state and sector laws, and customer contracts. De-identified records are the main lawful path.
  3. GuideFair Use and AI Training: What US Courts Have RuledUS courts are split: training was fair use in Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta, not in Thomson Reuters v. Ross, and pirated copies lost. Where each stands.
  4. GuideIs It Legal to Scrape Data for AI Training? (US Law, 2026)Scraping public pages is rarely a federal crime after Van Buren and hiQ, but contract, copyright, anti-circumvention and privacy law apply. Resale is hard.
  5. GuideCan a Company License Employee Emails and Slack for AI Training?Usually yes for business records the company controls, but only after it handles monitoring notices, third parties in the messages, privilege and vendor terms.
  6. GuideSelling Customer Data in Bankruptcy: Section 363 ExplainedA bankrupt company can sell customer data only if the sale fits its privacy policy, or a court-appointed privacy ombudsman reports and the judge approves it.
  7. GuideWhat Is a Data Licensing Agreement? The Terms for AI TrainingA data licensing agreement lets a buyer use data for set purposes while the holder keeps ownership. Each clause AI buyers ask for, and where holders stand.
  8. GuideHIPAA De-Identification for AI Training: Safe Harbor vs Expert DeterminationHealth data leaves HIPAA only through Safe Harbor (remove 18 identifiers) or an expert's determination of very small risk. How each works for AI training.
  9. GuideLicensing Company Data for AI Training Under the GDPR (2026)Yes, an EU, UK or Swiss company can license its records for AI training, if it has a lawful basis, tells people, drops sensitive data and uses a transfer tool.
  10. GuideSelling Data for AI Training: Privacy Law by CountryOutside the EU and UK, licensing records for AI training mostly needs consent or anonymisation, and a contract or consent to send them to a US buyer.
  11. RegisterLawsuits and rulingsEvery case, ruling and settlement over training data.
  12. RegisterLicence termsWhat buyers ask for in a licence, and where holders stand.
  13. PageDe-identification standardOur rules for removing people from records, each with its source.
  14. RegisterAI crawler censusA daily census of robots.txt across the most visited sites.

Other systems

Selling Slack data for AI training: what its terms allow | AIData.Broker