While lawsuits have become common for tech giants across the globe, Apple is at least on the verge of resolving one. The matter concerns the Siri privacy lawsuit, for which the iPhone maker has agreed to pay $95 million to settle. The lawsuit, filed over five years ago in 2019, alleges that the Cupertino-based company engaged in the unlawful and intentional recording of Siri interactions, violating users’ privacy rights.
The concern emerged when Apple rolled out the ‘Hey, Siri’ feature, leading to claims of unauthorized recordings of users’ conversations. Many iPhone owners complained that Apple’s devices were recording their private conversations through the widely popular voice assistant – Siri- and sharing this information with third parties, such as advertisers, who used it to influence the ad feeds on users’ devices.
In fact, two people in the lawsuit claimed that their private conversations triggered ads for products they were discussing in real life, such as Air Jordan sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants. The specific time frame during which the alleged issue persists – the ‘class period’ in legal terms – is from September 17, 2014, to December 31, 2024.
In the latest development, a preliminary settlement was filed on December 31, 2024, in the Oakland, California federal court. While Apple agreed to settle the case, it denied any wrongdoing. However, the settlement is still subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Interestingly, millions of people involved in the class action may receive up to $20 for each Siri-enabled device they own, such as iPhones and Apple Watches.
Meanwhile, the pile of lawsuits against Apple is unlikely to shorten, even if this settlement is approved. In March 2024, the US Justice Department announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit accusing the tech giant of creating an illegal monopoly in smartphones.
Comparing the $95 million settlement to Apple’s financial scale, the company reported a revenue of $391 billion in 2024, a small decline from $394.33 billion in 2023. Its net income for 2024 was $93.74 billion.
However, Apple is not alone in facing hefty lawsuit fines. Just last month, Microsoft faced a £1 billion lawsuit in the UK over cloud computing licenses, accusing the company of abusing its dominance in operating systems to charge higher fees for businesses using its software on rival cloud platforms. Similarly, a lawsuit on behalf of users of Google’s Voice Assistant remains pending in the San Jose, California federal court.
