Apple pays $95 million to settle Siri listening scandal

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million (£77 million) to settle a court claim that claimed some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.

The tech giant has been accused of eavesdropping on customers through its virtual assistant Siri.

The claimant also alleges that the audio recordings were shared with advertisers.

Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, was approached for comment.

at preliminary payment, The tech company denies any wrongdoing and claims it “did not record, disclose to third parties, or delete any conversations recorded as a result of Siri activation” without consent.

Apple’s lawyers also said they would confirm that the company “permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019.”

But the claimants said the tech company recorded people unintentionally activating the virtual assistant without using the phrase “Hey, Siri.”

And advertisers who receive the recordings say they can look for keywords in the recordings for better targeted advertising.

Apple has proposed a February 14 ruling for the Oakland, California court.

A class action lawsuit is a lawsuit brought to court by a small number of people on behalf of a larger group.

If successful, the amount won will be paid to all claimants.

Each claimant, who must reside in the United States, could receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device they owned from 2014 to 2019, according to court documents.

In this case, the attorney can take 30% of the fees and costs, which is less than $30 million.

The settlement not only allows Apple to deny wrongdoing, but also avoids the risk of facing a court case that could potentially mean much larger compensation.

california company Earned $94.9 billion For 3 months until September 28, 2024.

Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years.

From January 2024 $500 million lawsuit It was claimed that the iPhone was intentionally slowed down in the US.

Last March, the following agreement was reached: pay $490 million In a class action lawsuit led by Norfolk County Council in England.

And in November, consumer group ‘Which? A class action lawsuit has been launched accusing Apple of deceiving its customers. iCloud service.