Apple was accused of using Siri data for marketing purposes and handing it to third-party agencies, but the company has denied all accusations. The company also denied that the data captured by Siri was used for advertising. Apple has refuted the claims, stating that Siri does not operate in the way that the plaintiff presented.
Apple denies all accusations of Siri collecting data, states the data has never been sold or used for marketing purposes
A lawsuit was filed against Apple, which the company has agreed to settle, claiming that Apple provided information from accidental Siri recordings to third-party companies for marketing purposes. The plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit that they were presented with ads related to the Air Jordon shoes and Olive Garden after Siri accidentally recorded them speaking.
Apple has denied all allegations, stating that Siri does not work like that and that the collected data is randomized and anonymous. Furthermore, the company also said that the data is not sold to any third-party organization or agency. Note that the company does use Siri's recordings for other purposes, such as improving the personal assistant, which is also an opt-in feature. The feature is turned off by default, meaning the decision rests in the users' hands. The company's complete statement reads:
Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning. Siri data has never been used to build marketing profiles and it has never been sold to anyone for any purpose. Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019. We use Siri data to improve Siri, and we are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private.
The lawsuit was originally filed against Apple in 2019, claiming that the accidental Siri activations listen to private conversations held between people. While Apple did not provide privacy terms at that time related to using human oversight for Siri, the contractors showed concerns over the feature's awareness. The plaintiffs claimed that Siri "regularly recorded without consent" and stated that they would not have bought the iPhone if they had known about the feature.
Initially, the judge did not consider the case as it lacked evidence against Siri and its recordings, but it was refiled later with an accusation that the data being collected by the digital assistant was being used for targeted advertising. The company stated that it has settled the lawsuit for $95 million but "continues to deny any and all alleged wrongdoing and liability, specifically denies each of the Plaintiffs' contentions and claims, and continues to deny that the Plaintiffs' claims and allegations would be suitable for class action status."
The settlement has received preliminary approval from the court, meaning that all users with a Siri device in the United States between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024, are eligible as class members and could get up to $20. We will share more details on the subject, so stick around.
About the author: Ali Salman is a technology reporter for Wccftech mobile section with a specialized focus on Apple and the intellectual property that drives mobile innovation. He has cultivated a unique expertise in analyzing and deconstructing complex technology patents, translating dense legal and technical documents into clear, insightful reports on future products.
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