Apple has begun handing out payments to customers after agreeing to settle a $95 million class action lawsuit that claimed its voice-activated assistant Siri violated users' privacy.
Mobile device owners complained that Apple routinely recorded their private conversations after they activated Siri unintentionally, and disclosed these conversations to third parties such as advertisers.
Tens of millions of people are thought to be involved as class members in the suit and may receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches, that was affected.
According to administrators, to qualify for a portion of the settlement customers must have owned a Siri-equipped Apple device between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024.
A person’s “confidential communications” must have been “obtained by Apple and/or were shared with third parties as a result of an unintended Siri activation” during that time period.
Qualifying members received “emails and postcards” notifying them but settlement administrators had encouraged others to apply if they believed they were entitled to compensation. The claim window closed last yJuly, The Hill reports.
Claims could be lodged for up to five Siri-enabled Apple devices with the chance to receive up to $20 per device, though payments may increase or decrease based on the number of valid claims.
The suit was brought against the tech giant after two plaintiffs in California said their mentions of Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered ads for those products.
Another said he got ads for a brand name surgical treatment after discussing it, he thought privately, with his doctor. Voice assistants typically react when people use "hot words" such as "Hey, Siri."
“Siri has been engineered to protect user privacy from the beginning,” a spokesperson for Apple told Nexstar. The tech giant has denied all wrongdoing in the case, despite agreeing to settle.
The $95 million is about nine hours of profit for Apple, whose net income was $93.74 billion in its latest fiscal year, according to Reuters.
