Data-driven analyses and model-independent fits for present <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">→</mml:mo> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> <mml:mo>ℓ</mml:mo> <mml:mo>ℓ</mml:mo> </m

We present a critical assessment of the present <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mi>B</a:mi> </a:math> anomalies in the exclusive <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mi>b</c:mi> <c:mo stretchy="false">→</c:mo> <c:mi>s</c:mi> <c:mo>ℓ</c:mo> <c:mo>ℓ</c:mo> </c:math> mode based on the QCD factorization (QCDf) approach. In particular, we analyze the impact of different local form factor calculations and of the largest bin in the low- <f:math xmlns:f="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <f:msup> <f:mi>q</f:mi> <f:mn>2</f:mn> </f:msup> </f:math> region. We also present a model-independent analysis of the new results of the LHCb and CMS experiments on the <h:math xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <h:mi>B</h:mi> <h:mo stretchy="false">→</h:mo> <h:msup> <h:mi>K</h:mi> <h:mo>*</h:mo> </h:msup> <h:msup> <h:mi>μ</h:mi> <h:mo>+</h:mo> </h:msup> <h:msup> <h:mi>μ</h:mi> <h:mo>−</h:mo> </h:msup> </h:math> angular observables. In addition, we update the global fit by including all <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <k:mi>b</k:mi> <k:mo stretchy="false">→</k:mo> <k:mi>s</k:mi> </k:math> observables incorporating the new data from CMS and the LHCb. In these analyses, we use 10% or higher guesstimates of the nonfactorizable power corrections as additional uncertainties, serving as a placeholder for robust estimates of these contributions. Updating earlier results, we also analyze the combined LHCb and CMS data on the <n:math xmlns:n="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <n:mi>B</n:mi> <n:mo stretchy="false">→</n:mo> <n:msup> <n:mi>K</n:mi> <n:mo>*</n:mo> </n:msup> <n:msup> <n:mi>μ</n:mi> <n:mo>+</n:mo> </n:msup> <n:msup> <n:mi>μ</n:mi> <n:mo>−</n:mo> </n:msup> </n:math> angular observables using data-driven approaches to find indications of whether these tensions between the QCDf predictions and the present data are due to underestimated subleading hadronic contributions or due to new physics effects.