Siri eavesdrops: Apple to pay $95 million for unauthorized recording of conversations.

Apple has reached a preliminary agreement to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accuses the company of unauthorized recording of users' conversations through its voice assistant, Siri. According to the plaintiffs, Siri would activate without the usual command "Hey, Siri" and transmit the recorded conversations to advertisers, as reported by Orda.kz referencing BBC.

https://orda.kz/siri-podslushivaet-apple-vyplatit-95-millionov-dollarov-za-nesankcionirovannye-zapisi-razgovorov-396453/2025-01-04 07:31:30

In the documents submitted for the settlement, Apple denies that it violated user privacy, shared their recordings with third parties, or stored them without the knowledge of the device owners. The company also emphasizes that it has "permanently deleted" certain Siri recordings collected before October 2019.

According to the terms of the agreement, if the court in Northern California approves it on February 14, each plaintiff in the U.S. who can prove ownership of a device with Siri between 2014 and 2019 may receive compensation of up to $20 for each such device. The attorneys representing the affected parties may receive up to 30% of the total payout amount (around $30 million) as part of the agreement.

Thus, Apple aims to avoid a longer and more expensive legal process while continuing to assert its non-involvement in any illegal recording or transfer of user data.

In recent years, Apple has faced multiple class-action lawsuits. In January 2024, the company began compensating damages related to the case concerning the intentional slowing down of certain iPhone models (with a claim amount of $500 million). In March, a settlement was reached for an additional $490 million regarding a lawsuit filed by the Norfolk County Council in the UK.

In November 2024, the British organization Which? also filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing it of deceiving customers through its iCloud service. Meanwhile, a parallel case in the same Northern California court is already underway against Google, whose devices, according to similar claims, may have also "accidentally" recorded user conversations.

A decision regarding the settlement of the lawsuit against Apple will be made on February 14. If it receives court approval, the company will begin making payments, and users who are part of the lawsuit will be able to receive compensation for the violation of their privacy rights.