Apple has proposed a $95 million settlement to resolve the Apple Siri class action lawsuit, which alleges that its voice assistant, Siri, violated user privacy. The lawsuit claims that Siri unintentionally recorded private conversations without users’ consent and sometimes shared these recordings with third parties, such as advertisers. This raised significant privacy concerns and contradicted Apple’s reputation for protecting customer data. The Apple Siri class action lawsuit was filed in a California federal court and is currently awaiting approval from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, who is set to hold a hearing on February 14 in Oakland, California.
The lawsuit covers Siri-enabled devices used between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. Plaintiffs argued that discussions about personal topics, such as sneakers or restaurants, were followed by targeted advertisements, suggesting that Siri was unintentionally activated and recorded private conversations. While Apple has denied any wrongdoing, the company opted to settle the case to avoid lengthy litigation.
Under the settlement, eligible users may receive up to $20 per device, while the lawyers representing the plaintiffs are requesting $28.5 million in legal fees and $1.1 million in expenses from the settlement fund. Although $95 million may seem like a small sum for a company like Apple, with annual profits surpassing $93 billion, the settlement highlights growing concerns regarding how voice assistant technologies manage sensitive user information.
This Apple Siri class action lawsuit is part of a broader scrutiny of tech companies and their data privacy practices, with a similar lawsuit against Google’s Voice Assistant currently ongoing in the same district. The case brings attention to the growing challenges faced by companies in safeguarding user privacy while managing voice recognition technologies.
