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Tech giant Apple on Thursday agreed to pay $95 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging its Siri voice assistant violated users’ privacy.
A preliminary agreement was filed Tuesday night in federal court in Oakland, California, which will be subject to approval by US District Judge Jeffrey White.
The mobile device owners who filed the complaint alleged that Apple routinely recorded private conversations after they inadvertently activated Siri. The lawsuit added that those conversations were then disclosed to third parties, including advertisers who served some users ads that were tailored to the conversations they were having.
Voice assistants like Siri can be activated in response to certain verbal requests that include “hot words” like “Hey, Siri.”
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Apple (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Two of the plaintiffs alleged that their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants led them to receive targeted advertising for those products.
Another plaintiff alleged that he received advertising for a branded surgical treatment after discussing it in what he thought was a private conversation with his doctor.
| TICKER | Safety | The last one | AmENdmENT | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 243.85 | -6.57 |
-2.62% |
Class members, which were valued in the tens of millions, could receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device they own, such as iPhones and Apple Watches. The class period runs from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024 and began when Siri turned on the “Hey Siri” feature.
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The mark of Apple Inc. at the company’s Fifth Avenue store in New York on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Apple denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.
The $95 million settlement amounts to about nine hours of profit for Apple, which had net income of about $93.74 billion in its last fiscal year.
The lawyers are seeking up to $28.5 million in fees, plus $1.1 million in costs, as compensation from the settlement fund.
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A similar lawsuit is pending 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.
