France is turning up the heat on major U.S. tech companies, and Apple is once again in the crosshairs. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into how Siri handles and retains voice recordings, marking the second time in 2025 that Apple has faced regulatory scrutiny in the country. The probe follows a complaint filed by the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, which cites testimony from Thomas le Bonniec, a former subcontractor in Ireland who alleged he was tasked with listening to user interactions with Siri, including disturbing content.
Apple, for its part, has publicly defended its practices. In a January blog post, the company said it retains voice recordings only to improve Siri and emphasized that it has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it. Apple also outlined how Siri is designed to safeguard user privacy:
– On capable devices, Siri processes audio requests entirely on the device using the Neural Engine, unless a user chooses to share data with Apple.
– For requests that require off-device processing, Apple uses a random identifier tied to a single device to help keep data separate from a user’s identity.
– Audio recordings of Siri interactions are not retained unless a user explicitly opts in to help improve Siri, and those recordings are used solely for that purpose.
– Users can opt out of voice recording retention at any time.
This latest development fits within France’s broader push to enforce its Digital Services Tax and ensure compliance with EU-wide rules like the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. Authorities have been particularly active this year. In March 2025, the French Competition Authority fined Apple 150 million euros for allegedly abusing its dominant position in how apps are distributed on iOS devices. Separately, France continues to apply a 3 percent digital tax on revenue generated by large digital companies from online advertising, data exchanges, and digital intermediation services. The tax has prompted threats of retaliatory tariffs from the United States.
For Apple, the investigation underscores the growing regulatory pressure around voice assistants and data protection in Europe. For users, it spotlights the importance of understanding how voice data is processed, which controls exist, and how to manage privacy settings. As France and the EU sharpen enforcement of digital market and service rules, the outcome of this case could influence how voice technologies operate—and how transparently they communicate with consumers—across the region.
