Apple faces French investigation over Siri voice recordings

Apple is facing an investigation in France over the collection and use of voice recordings made through its Siri voice assistant. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the probe on October 6 and said it has referred the case to the Office for Combating Cybercrime.

The investigation follows a complaint filed earlier this year by the French human rights organization Ligue des Droits de l’Homme. The complaint is based on testimony from Thomas Le Bonniec, a former subcontractor who worked for Apple’s partner Globe Technical Services in Ireland in 2019. Le Bonniec said he reviewed thousands of Siri recordings during his time with the company, including conversations that involved sensitive personal information.

French authorities are looking into whether Apple collected and processed user voice data without proper consent. Le Bonniec said the recordings could contain intimate details and that some were identifiable. He had previously raised the issue with European data regulators, including France’s CNIL and Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, but those efforts did not lead to an investigation.

Apple declined to comment directly on the case. In a January blog post, the company stated that it does not retain Siri audio recordings unless users explicitly opt in. Apple said it uses those recordings solely to improve Siri and does not share them with marketers or sell them to advertisers. The company also said it had strengthened Siri’s privacy controls in 2019 and again in 2025.

The complaint has also led to a class-action lawsuit in France. The suit follows a similar case in the United States, which ended in a $95 million settlement last year. Apple did not admit to any wrongdoing in that case.

French prosecutors have not disclosed further details about the scope of the current investigation.

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