Apple has recently addressed allegations regarding the use of data from its virtual assistant Siri for targeted advertising. This comes in the wake of a class action lawsuit in which the company agreed to a $95 million settlement. The lawsuit accused Apple of eavesdropping on user conversations through Siri, even when the feature wasn’t activated with the “Hey Siri” command. The plaintiffs claimed they noticed advertisements for products they had discussed privately, raising concerns about audio privacy.
In response, Apple has firmly denied these accusations, stating that it has “never used Siri data to build marketing profiles” and that it does not share or sell this data for advertising purposes. The company clarified that Siri processes data primarily on the device itself and only sends minimal data to its servers when necessary, without linking queries to individual Apple accounts.
Additionally, Apple emphasized that it does not retain recordings of Siri interactions unless users actively opt-in to share their data for the purpose of improving Siri’s functionality.
Despite Apple’s statements, the generous settlement amount has led some observers to speculate that the company may be acknowledging wrongdoing. This situation highlights ongoing privacy concerns in the technology sector, particularly as smart devices gather increasing amounts of personal information.
This is not the first time Apple has faced scrutiny over privacy issues. In 2019, the company was involved in a controversy related to third-party contractors allegedly listening to recorded Siri interactions, including sensitive user information. Following public backlash, Apple made adjustments to its policies, allowing users to decide whether they wanted to share their voice recordings.
The situation draws parallels to similar accusations against Facebook, which has been suspected of using phone microphones to eavesdrop for advertising purposes, a claim that Facebook also denied.