Apple has agreed to pay an undisclosed multimillion-dollar settlement to a 21-year-old woman whose personal explicit photos were posted to the Internet, according to the Telegraph.
The incident happened in 2016 when the Oregon student mailed her phone to Apple for repair. The woman's friends warned her that her private photos were on social media. An "exhaustive" investigation revealed two repair technicians posted 10 of her photographs "in various stages of undress and a sex video" to her personal Facebook page, making it appear she had posted them herself.
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Apple fired both of the repair technicians. The employees worked in a Sacramento, California repair facility run by Pegatron, an Apple contractor and electronics manufacturer. Pegatron has reportedly reimbursed Apple for at least some of the settlement monies paid.
While the settlement amount is confidential, attorneys for the defendant had demanded the company pay $5 million during negotiations as compensation for the "severe emotional distress" she suffered.
A spokesperson for Apple called the privacy violation "egregious" and told the Telegraph the company had taken it "extremely seriously."
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The tech company says there are measures to protect the data on customers' devices during repairs but would not elaborate.