Apple's Siri voice assistant accused of illicit data collection

French prosecutors said on Monday they are investigating tech giant Apple's voice assistant Siri after receiving a complaint from a tech researcher accusing the company of illicit data collection.

The probe, which was first reported by the news website Politico, has been entrusted to a police force specialised in cybercrime, the prosecutors' office in Paris said without providing further details.

Tech researcher Thomas Le Bonniec told Reuters that he was the source of the complaint, which was filed by French human rights organisation, the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (LDH).

LDH had previously said the complaint accused Apple of collecting, recording and analysing Siri conversations without users' consent. It did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

"The opening of a criminal investigation ... sends a clear message: fundamental rights matter, and there are organisations and people determined to uphold them," Le Bonniec said.

Apple told Reuters on Monday that it had tightened Siri privacy controls in 2019 and again this year. It pointed to a January post on its website in which it said conversations with Siri were never shared with marketers or sold to advertisers.