French authorities have launched a criminal inquiry into the American technology firm over allegations it recorded users without their consent.
French prosecutors have initiated a criminal investigation into Apple following claims that its voice assistant, Siri, gathered and analyzed user recordings without appropriate permission. The Paris prosecutor’s office has informed Politico and Reuters that France’s cybercrime agency has been assigned the probe.
This investigation stems from a complaint lodged in February by a French non-governmental organization, supported by the testimony of whistleblower Thomas Le Bonniec. Le Bonniec, a former employee of an Apple subcontractor, states he reviewed thousands of Siri recordings in 2019 as part of quality-control efforts.
Le Bonniec reportedly worked for Globe Technical Services in Ireland, where he reviewed and annotated audio clips to enhance Siri’s accuracy. He informed Politico that this material sometimes contained “intimate moments and confidential information,” which could potentially be used to identify users.
The whistleblower has expressed satisfaction with the inquiry, believing it should provide answers to “urgent questions,” including the total number of recordings made since Siri’s launch and where this data is stored.
An Apple representative in France told Politico that the company “has never used Siri data to create marketing profiles, has never made it available for advertising and has never sold it to anyone for any reason whatsoever.”
Apple also communicated to Reuters that it has enhanced Siri’s privacy controls since 2019, with further improvements made this year. The company asserted that conversations with Siri “were never shared with marketers or sold to advertisers.”
In January, the company additionally emphasized that it would not retain “audio recordings of interactions with Siri, unless the user explicitly agrees.”
Apple has previously faced a similar class-action lawsuit in the US, where its voice assistant was accused of unintentionally recording private conversations, which were subsequently reviewed by third-party contractors for quality control purposes.
Earlier this year, the tech giant agreed to a $95 million settlement, which was approved by a federal judge last month. The agreement provides payouts of up to $20 per Siri-enabled device for users who owned Apple products between 2014 and 2024. Apple has also been ordered to delete older Siri recordings within six months.