Apple Pays Student Million-Dollar Compensation After Service Centre Leaked Her Nude Photos on Facebook

Apple reportedly paid the settlement for "severe emotional distress" that the student suffered; the service centre employees have been fired.

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Apple typically maintains a fairly stringent control over the standards of after-sales services that it offers its customers. However, every now and then, isolated incidents reveal that even Apple’s perceived service quality isn’t enough. Recently, a report by The Telegraph UK revealed that the company has issued a multi-million dollar settlement and compensation package to a student in California, after Apple service centre executives contracted via service provider Pegatron seemingly leaked compromising photographs belonging to the student, on her Facebook profile.

The report reveals that the student, whose name has been withheld for privacy reasons, had submitted her iPhone for repair at an Apple service centre facility in California, USA. During this period, the student was suddenly alerted by her peers about unusual activity on her Facebook account. It was then found that 10 photos of the said student was posted on her Facebook profile, showing her “in various stages of undress”. The content posted on her profile apparently also included a “sex video”. The act was reportedly found to have been done by two repair technicians who worked on her phone.

Often, Apple service centre executives ask users to provide them a device’s pass code, which may be required at certain stages during repair. Apple has typically always claimed to maintain stringent quality standards, which presumably include strong terms of service for the contracted service centre employees. This service centre in question was operated by Apple’s partner, Pegatron, who is said to have cooperated with Apple fully during its investigation, and issued Apple a full compensation of what the company paid to the student.

While the exact sum of the settlement has not been revealed, the student’s legal counsel demanded a payout of $5 million (approx. Rs 36.4 crore) from Apple for causing “severe emotional distress” to the student. The company is said to have agreed to the settlement, but was also quoted as having included stringent confidentiality clauses in the settlement procedure — preventing her from conversing about the matter in public. Apple confirmed the settlement case in an email with The Telegraph UK.