Apple Settles Siri Eavesdropping Lawsuit for $95M

Time for Apple to cough up the cash.

Apple will pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of using Siri to secretly record conversations.

Many have long suspected that their phones have been listening in and now there’s a lawsuit calling them out about it.

But Apple hasn’t admitted guilt.

And nothing says ‘innocent’ like paying out nearly $100 million dollars.

The recordings were allegedly shared with advertisers.

This could be why you would talk about an item and then see an advertisement about it on your phone a little bit later.

Consumers with Siri-enabled devices from 2014–2023 may claim up to $20 per device, pending court approval.

Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of snoopy eavesdroppinghttps://t.co/qwI1JFv40p pic.twitter.com/IYqEI4OESi

— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) January 2, 2025

CBS News reports:

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a civil lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.

The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.

Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a Feb. 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.

If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased, depending on the volume of claims.

Hey Siri, why are you always eavesdropping?

People are posting their experiences with this happening to them.

Our phones are 100% listening to our conversations, even when we're off line.

Yesterday, while I was shopping at an actual mall, I was looking for one of these.

Today, it's the first thing that showed up when I went to my amazon page. pic.twitter.com/p3smzzdgui

— Martyupnorth®- Unacceptable Fact Checker (@Martyupnorth_2) November 26, 2024

And for those of you that don’t have an iPhone, there are other ways smart phones are being spied on.

Daily reminder- your phone is spying on you guys. pic.twitter.com/qbOms2ictC

— Ian Carroll (@IanCarrollShow) December 7, 2023