Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a lawsuit alleging some of its devices eavesdropped on people without their permission.
The tech giant has been accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.
Prosecutors also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.
Apple, which has pleaded not guilty, has been approached for comment.
in preliminary settlement, the tech company denies any wrongdoing, and claims it “recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete conversations recorded as a result of Siri activation” without consent.
Apple’s lawyers also say they will confirm that they have “permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings that Apple collected prior to October 2019.”
But prosecutors say the tech company recorded people inadvertently activating the virtual assistant — without using the phrase “Hey Siri” to wake it up.
And they say advertisers who receive the footage could search for keywords in it to better target ads.
Class action
Apple has proposed a decision date of February 14 in a court in Oakland, California.
Class action lawsuits work by having a small number of people go to court on behalf of a larger group.
If they are successful, the money won is paid out to all applicants.
According to court documents, each plaintiff – who must be based in the US – could receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.
In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus costs – which is just under $30 million.
By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but also avoids the risk of facing a lawsuit that could potentially mean a much larger payout.
California company earned $94.9 billion in three months until September 28, 2024.
In recent years, Apple has been involved in a series of class action lawsuits,
In January 2024, the payment of ua began A $500 million lawsuit which claimed it was deliberately slowing down the iPhone in the US.
In March, he agreed to pay 490 million dollars in a class action brought by Norfolk County Council in the United Kingdom.
And in November, consumer group Which? filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, accusing it of ripping off customers through its own iCloud service.
