Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a lawsuit alleging some of its devices eavesdropped on people without their permission.
Apple is willing to pay to get rid of the accusations PHOTO: The truth (archive)
The tech giant has been accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its Siri virtual assistant. The plaintiffs also allege that the voice recordings were shared with advertisers. Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been contacted for comment, writes bbc.com.
Apple lawyers also say they will confirm that they have “permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple before October 2019”. But the plaintiffs say the tech firm recorded people who inadvertently activated the virtual assistant — without using the phrase “Hey, Siri” to wake him up.
And they say advertisers who received the records could then search for keywords in them to better target ads.
Collective action
Apple proposed a decision date of February 14 in the court in Oakland, California. Class action lawsuits work by having a small number of people go to court on behalf of a larger group. If they are successful, the money won is paid to all claimants.
According to court documents, each plaintiff – who must be based in the US – could receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.
In that case, the lawyers could take 30 percent of the fee plus expenses — which comes to just under $30 million. With this deal, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but also avoids the risk of facing a lawsuit that could mean a much larger payout. The California-based company earned $94.9 billion in the three months to September 28, 2024.
Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years. In January 2024, it began paying in a $500 million lawsuit alleging it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the US.
In March, it agreed to pay $490 million in a class action led by Norfolk County Council in the United Kingdom.
And in November, consumer group Which? filed a class action against Apple, accusing it of defrauding customers through its iCloud service.
