Apple has agreed to a US$95 million settlement over allegations it violated user privacy through Siri recordings.

The lawsuit claimed Apple allowed Siri to record private conversations and shared them with third-party contractors without consent.

Although Apple denied wrongdoing, it will compensate affected US users with Siri-enabled devices used between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024.

Users who experienced unintended Siri activation during private talks can file a claim online until July 2, 2025.

Each claimant may receive up to US$100 or US$20 per eligible device, for a maximum of five devices.

Notifications about the settlement have been sent from the email address to potential claimants in recent days.

🔗 Source: The Verge

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Privacy settlements are growing in size and frequency across tech

Apple’s $95 million Siri settlement reflects a trend of increasingly substantial privacy payouts across the tech industry in recent years.

Google paid a record $170 million in 2019 to settle allegations of violating children’s privacy laws through YouTube, marking the largest COPPA settlement in history at that time 1.

That same year, Google agreed to pay $13 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit regarding its Street View project’s collection of private data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks between 2007-2010 2.

More recently, Google paid $100 million in 2022 to settle claims related to violations of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act, while Hearst Communications paid $50 million in 2018 for disclosing subscribers’ personal information to third parties 3.

These settlements show how privacy violations now carry significant financial consequences for companies, with the scale of payouts increasing as regulatory scrutiny intensifies.

2️⃣ Voice assistant privacy practices have evolved following scrutiny

The Lopez v. Apple lawsuit represents a notable moment in how voice assistant data is handled, as similar privacy concerns have emerged across the industry.