Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping

NEWS WIRES

2 January 2025 at 4:24 pm·1-min read

The Apple iPhone 16 on display at the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York on September 20, 2024.

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit filed in California accusing the tech brand of using its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on owners of its iPhones and other devices. The lawsuit alleges that recorded conversations were shared with advertisers to better target consumers despite the company's claims of championing user privacy.

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.

The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn't seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri." Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.

The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple's long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”

(AFP)

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