Apple faces French investigation over Siri user privacy breach

The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into Apple over the collection of user recordings by its voice assistant, Siri. Officials confirmed that the case is being handled by the OFAC cybercrime unit following a complaint filed by the human rights group Ligue des droits de l’Homme.

This was reported by Politico.

What are the claims and what is the company's position?

On October 6, 2025, prosecutors announced the launch of the investigation. The case stems from a complaint filed in February by the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, based on testimony from whistleblower and former Apple subcontractor employee Thomas Le Bonniec.

While working at the Ireland-based Globe Technical Services in 2019, Le Bonniec analyzed Siri's records to improve the quality of the assistant's responses. He claims that this involved listening to thousands of user recordings that could reveal intimate moments, confidential data, and even identify individuals.

Le Bonniec said the investigation should answer "urgent questions": How many recordings has Apple made since 2014? How many people are affected? Where is this data stored? An Apple representative in France emphasized that the company has never used Siri data to create marketing profiles, shared it for advertising purposes, or sold it under any circumstances.

After unsuccessfully trying to get a response from data protection regulators, including the French CNIL and the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is the responsible authority for American tech giants under EU law, Le Bonniec appealed to the prosecutor's office. The DPC closed the case in 2022 without opening an investigation.

The February complaint paved the way for a class action lawsuit in France. A similar process occurred in the United States, where Apple was accused of recording private conversations without consumers' knowledge. In December 2024, Apple agreed to a $95 million settlement without admitting any violations.

In a January post on its corporate blog, Apple stated that it would not store audio recordings of Siri interactions without explicit user consent.

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