Data withholding occurs when a manager, marketing department, or other entity within an organization chooses to keep information that could be useful to other internal stakeholders for their strategic decisions and marketing activities. This withholding behavior, more widespread than commonly believed, can stem from power struggles among marketing executives or a lack of trust regarding how the data might be used. It’s important to note that if data is not shared for legal reasons, such as compliance obligations, this falls more under the umbrella of legitimate data governance than withholding. Withholding practices can contribute to the formation of information silos within an organization. It is crucial to distinguish data withholding from the issue of data privacy.