Apple denies selling Siri data ‘to anyone for any purpose’

Apple has explained why it recently agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit.

Apple has never sold Siri data “to anyone for any purpose”.

The technology giant recently agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit over allegations of disclosing conversations on Siri to third parties – but Apple has now clarified its position on the issue.

The company said in a statement: “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.”

Apple chose to release the statement after some industry commentators interpreted the company’s settlement agreement as an admission of guilt.

But the tech giant has now insisted that isn’t the case at all.

The company added: “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.”

Earlier this month, Apple agreed to pay pay $95 million in cash in order to settle the proposed lawsuit.

Owners of mobile devices complained that they had been secretly recorded after they accidentally turned on Siri, Apple’s digital assistant.

But Apple – which is the world’s largest tech company by revenue – denied any wrongdoing at the time.

The company said in a statement to the BBC: “Apple settled this case to avoid additional litigation so we can move forward from concerns about third-party grading that we already addressed in 2019.”