@Geoffrey Hillman - Thanks for the question and using MS Q&A platform.
According to the documentation you provided, F3 licensed users do not have the ability to apply a default retention policy to the entire organization, specific locations, or users. However, this does not mean that retention policies cannot be applied to F3 users at all. Retention policies can still be applied to specific locations or users, but they would need to be applied manually rather than through a default policy.
Regarding your question about a global retention policy for Exchange, it would depend on how the policy is configured. If the policy is configured to apply to all mailboxes in the organization, then it would apply to the mailboxes of F3 users as well. However, if the policy is configured to apply only to specific locations or users, then it would not apply to F3 users unless they are included in the specified locations or users.
I hope this helps clarify things for you! Let me know if you have any other questions.