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Tech giant Apple agreed Thursday to pay $95 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit that its Siri voice assistant violated users’ privacy.
A preliminary settlement was filed Tuesday evening in federal court in Oakland, Calif., and will be subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White.
Mobile device owners who filed the complaint claimed that Apple routinely recorded private conversations after unintentionally activating Siri. The lawsuit added that these conversations were then disclosed to third parties, including advertisers who served certain users ads tailored to the conversations they had.
Voice assistants like Siri can be opened in response to certain verbal prompts that include “hot words” like “Hey, Siri.”
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Apple (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Two of the plaintiffs claimed that their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants had encouraged them to receive targeted advertisements for these products.
Another plaintiff alleged that he received advertisements for a brand name surgical treatment after discussing it in what he thought was a private conversation with his doctor.
| Teleprinter | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 243.85 | -6.57 |
-2.62% |
Members of the group, estimated to number in the tens of millions, can receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device they own, such as iPhone and Apple Watches. The class period runs from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024 and began when Siri integrated the “Hey, Siri” functionality.
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Apple Inc. signage at the company’s store on Fifth Avenue in New York on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Apple has denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.
The $95 million settlement represents about nine hours of profit for Apple, which made a net profit of about $93.74 billion in its most recent fiscal year.
The lawyers are seeking up to $28.5 million in fees, plus $1.1 million in expenses, as compensation from the settlement fund.
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A similar lawsuit is underway on behalf of users of Google’s voice assistant in a federal court in San Jose that is part of the same district as the Oakland court handling the Apple case. The plaintiffs in the Google case are represented by the same firms as in the Apple case.
Reuters contributed to this report.
