Amazon.com has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it violated children’s privacy rights with its Alexa voice assistant, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
In the FTC’s complaint against Amazon filed in Washington state, it alleged that the company violated rules safeguarding children’s privacy and rules against deceiving consumers who used Alexa.
For instance, the complaint highlighted instances where Amazon promised users it would delete voice transcripts and location information upon request but failed to do so. The FTC claimed that Amazon’s retention of these voice recordings provided the company with valuable data for training the Alexa algorithm to understand children, prioritizing profit over children’s privacy.
