- Apple Agrees to Settle Class Action Lawsuit Over Siri Complaints
- Victims reported that brands mentioned in private conversations then appeared in targeted ads on their Apple devices.
- Tens of millions may be affected, but Apple did not admit wrongdoing
Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit after owners of its devices claimed Siri revealed private conversations to advertisers.
By PakGazettethe case in federal court in Oakland, California, López et al v. Apple Inc, revolves around the inadvertent activation of Siri during phone calls, resulting in Apple revealing fragments of the conversation to advertisers.
Even though voice assistants are typically only activated by a wake word or phrase (think “Alexa” or, in this case, “Hey Siri”), the plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed that they had been shown ads for branded products in what they believed were confidential conversations.
Siri Privacy Lawsuit
The class action period spans from September 17, 2014, when the “Hey Siri” activation phrase was introduced, to December 31, 2024. Tens of millions of people could receive up to $20 per device equipped with Siri, including iPhone and Apple. Watches.
Apple remained tight-lipped when asked to comment on the settlement, although it explicitly denied any wrongdoing in court.
PakGazette notes that $95 million is equivalent to just nine hours of profit for Apple, making this latest class action lawsuit against a big tech company yet another example of how such actions are counted as a cost of business.
Elsewhere, a case against Google over its own Voice Assistant is underway in Federal Court in San Jose, California, and it’s hard to imagine the outcome won’t be similarly inconsequential.
