Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) has said data collected through its Siri voice assistant tool was never sold after agreeing last week to pay US$95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging such practices.
“Apple has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it to anyone for any purpose,” a statement said.
Plaintiffs had argued private conversations were routinely recorded when Siri was unintentionally activated and shared with the likes of advertisers and other third parties.
Apple in turn agreed to pay US$95 million to settle the class action lawsuit, which covered the likes of its iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches purchased between 2014 and 2024.
Like other voice-controlled tools, Apple’s Siri can be activated with verbal commands, such as the phrase “hey, Siri”.
Apple had denied the allegations, with Wednesday’s statement coming after the settlement sparked speculation that the accusations were true.
“Apple does not retain audio recordings of Siri interactions unless users explicitly opt in to help improve Siri, and even then, the recordings are used solely for that purpose,” it added.