Apple to pay $95 million to settle privacy lawsuit over Siri recordings 

Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement in a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging its Siri voice assistant violated users’ privacy.

According to Reuters’ report, the settlement, which awaits approval from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, was filed on Tuesday and seeks to resolve claims that Apple recorded private conversations without consent and shared them with third parties, such as advertisers.

The lawsuit contends that Apple’s Siri assistant, activated by the “Hey, Siri” command, inadvertently recorded private conversations when triggered unintentionally.

Plaintiffs argued that these recordings were later used for targeted advertising.

Examples from the case include a plaintiff who mentioned Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants received ads for those products.

Under the settlement terms, Apple may pay class members—estimated in the tens of millions—up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, including iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.

Meanwhile, a similar privacy lawsuit is pending against Google in San Jose, California, in the same district as the Apple case.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that Google Assistant can activate and record communications even when a user does not intentionally trigger Google Assistant with a hot word, like “Okay Google,” or manually activate Google Assistant on their device.