Ms makes Windows. By using the OS you already trust them with your data. Why bother with a 3rd party here?

If you don’t trust MS Defender, you should be using Linux instead.

MS Defender has issues but it never did any of the bad things third party AVs do. In fact it does none of the things this very article highlights.

So yes, MS Defender is very different from any other AD products.

It still sends lots and lots of data home. The only difference is we don't know, if Microsoft is selling them. They surely are not selling them openly, but I would not be that surprised to find out they use it for other purposes as well. But they openly do tracking and show you ads in windows anyway ..

If they don't need to sell it because they would be the ones to otherwise buy it, is that better?

A tiny bit I think, as it stays with one (BIG) party, than circulates around.

Still, I would fine them into oblivion for this and the fact that this is accepted behavior that apparently gets not fined, is hard to accept.