France has once again turned its regulatory gaze toward Apple, launching an official investigation into how Siri, the company’s voice assistant, handles user recordings. The move places Apple squarely back in the crosshairs of European authorities who are becoming increasingly assertive in enforcing digital rights and transparency. At the heart of the matter lies the question: what exactly happens to the snippets of conversations users have with Siri, and are those fragments stored, analyzed, or misused in ways that breach privacy laws?
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened the investigation after receiving a formal complaint from the human rights organization Ligue des droits de l’Homme. 
The complaint references the whistleblower testimony of Thomas le Bonniec, a former Apple subcontractor based in Cork, Ireland, who claimed he was instructed to listen to user audio captured by Siri. According to him, the recordings sometimes contained disturbing and sensitive content – even one involving a suspected pedophile. His allegations reignited long-standing fears that voice assistants might inadvertently serve as eavesdropping devices disguised as conveniences.
Apple, for its part, has maintained a firm defense. In a blog post earlier this year, the company emphasized that voice recordings are used strictly to improve Siri’s accuracy and naturalness, not for advertising or data profiling. Apple insisted that it has never sold user recordings or used them for marketing purposes, and pointed out that Siri performs much of its processing directly on-device using the company’s Neural Engine. This means that for many requests, audio never leaves the user’s iPhone or iPad. When off-device processing is necessary, Apple claims it replaces identifiable information with a random string of characters linked only to a device, not to a specific user.
The company also reminds users that participation in Siri’s “voice improvement” program is strictly optional. Those who opt in allow Apple to retain short snippets of audio to refine its algorithms; those who don’t can disable the feature entirely through settings. The problem, however, lies in public trust – and in Europe, where the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) have raised the bar for data transparency, even the hint of opaque data handling can draw severe scrutiny.
This latest probe marks the second time Apple has faced legal trouble in France this year. Back in March 2025, the French Competition Authority fined the company €150 million for anti-competitive behavior related to App Store distribution. The nation’s regulators have made it clear they intend to keep tech giants accountable, not only through individual investigations but also via the broader framework of the EU’s digital governance model. Meanwhile, France continues to enforce its controversial 3% digital services tax on large tech firms, a policy that has previously sparked trade tensions with the United States, including threats of retaliatory tariffs.
In essence, France’s investigation into Siri is not an isolated case but a symptom of a wider European push to reassert digital sovereignty. The question is no longer whether Apple can protect user privacy – it’s whether regulators believe it actually does. And as the EU tightens its grip on data accountability, Apple’s once-polished privacy narrative may face its toughest test yet.