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Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nApple has agreed to pay $95m (\u00a377m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.<\/p>\n The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.<\/p>\n The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.<\/p>\n Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the preliminary settlement,<\/a> the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it “recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation” without consent.<\/p>\n Apple’s lawyers also say they will confirm they have “permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019”.<\/p>\n But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally – without using the phrase “Hey, Siri” to wake it.<\/p>\n They say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.<\/p>\n The lead plaintiff Fumiko Lopez claims she and her daughter were both recorded without their consent.<\/p>\n They allege they were served targeted ads after talking about products including Air Jordans.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apple has proposed a decision date of 14 February in the court in Northern California. <\/p>\n Class action lawsuits work by a small number of people going to court on behalf of a larger group.<\/p>\n If they are successful, the money won is paid out across all claimants.<\/p>\n According to the court documents, each claimant – who has to be based in the US -could be paid up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.<\/p>\n In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus expenses – which comes to just under $30m.<\/p>\n By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but it also avoids the risk of facing a court case which could potentially mean a much larger pay out.<\/p>\n The California company earned $94.9bn<\/a> in the three months up to 28 September 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years.<\/p>\n In January 2024, it started paying out in a $500m lawsuit<\/a> which claimed it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the US.<\/p>\n In March, it agreed to pay $490m<\/a> in a class action led by Norfolk County Council in the UK.<\/p>\n And in November, consumer group Which? started a class action against Apple, accusing it of ripping off customers through its iCloud service.<\/a><\/p>\n The same law firm is suing Google in a similar class action, accusing it of listening to customers using Google devices.<\/p>\n That lawsuit is currently going through the same court in Northern California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nClass action<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n