Siri’s ‘accidental listening’ results in $95 million privacy fine for Apple

The news: Apple agreed to pay a $95 million fine to settle claims that its Siri voice assistant recorded users’ private conversations and used them for targeted ads, per Reuters.

A class-action lawsuit of this magnitude reveals the tight integration between voice assistant technology and the data gathering necessary to drive Apple’s ad business.

Voice conversations feed ads: Two plaintiffs claim they saw ads for Air Jordans, Olive Garden, and a surgical treatment after mentioning them in private conversations without invoking Siri with the “hey Siri” wake phrase.

A preliminary settlement filed Tuesday in the Oakland, California, federal court still needs approval from US District Judge Jeffrey White.

• Once approved, Siri users can claim up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, capped at five devices, for purchases made between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. We forecast the Siri voice assistant to have 77.6 million US users this year. 
• Apple denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle. Neither the company nor its lawyers responded to Reuters’ initial request for a comment on the matter.

Is Big Tech secretly listening? Siri isn’t the only voice assistant in hot water for listening beyond its scope.

• Amazon paid a $25 million settlement in 2023 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged that its Alexa assistant violated children’s privacy law for using voice and geolocation data for its own purposes.
• Google faces a class-action lawsuit for allegedly listening in on phone conversations and recording them without consent to use as training data for AI workflows.

Our take: These cases highlight Big Tech’s growing demand for ad targeting and AI training data, a challenge set to intensify as technology pivots to conversational assistants and active listening devices.

Apple’s fine risks damaging its privacy-first reputation and hindering its AI pivot, which relies heavily on Siri’s conversational capabilities

This article is part of EMARKETER’s client-only subscription Briefings—daily newsletters authored by industry analysts who are experts in marketing, advertising, media, and tech trends. To help you finish 2024 strong, and start 2025 off on the right foot, articles like this one—delivering the latest news and insights—are completely free through January 31, 2025. If you want to learn how to get insights like these delivered to your inbox every day, and get access to our data-driven forecasts, reports, and industry benchmarks, schedule a demo with our sales team.