Key findings
- The case, In re Otter.ai Privacy Litigation (No. 25-cv-06911, N.D. Cal.), joins four proposed class actions filed in August and September 2025. Seven plaintiffs from California, Illinois, and Washington bring it.
- Plaintiffs say the notetaker joins as a silent participant and that Otter keeps conversation contents, voiceprints, and other personal data for its own use, including training speech recognition models.
- The August order denied Otter's standing challenge. It kept claims under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), section 631(a) of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). It dismissed the computer fraud claims and some privacy claims, several with leave to amend.
- Commentators read the ruling as turning on what the vendor does with recordings. In their reading, a tool that reuses recordings to train its own models counts as a third-party eavesdropper, and a tool that only records for the host counts as the host's recorder.
- Otter's terms make each user responsible for notice and consent, and its privacy policy lists training on de-identified audio and transcripts. A buyer controls auto-join, notice, sharing, training access, and retention.
The class action over Otter Notetaker will run through 2027, so set the notice, training, and voice-data controls the case turns on now. On August 13, 2026, the court let the federal wiretap, California eavesdropping, and Illinois biometric claims proceed. Otter answered on September 17, 2026 and denied the core allegations. The plaintiffs must move for class certification by May 13, 2027, and the court set a trial-setting conference for December 1, 2027.
What the case alleges
The plaintiffs joined Zoom and Teams meetings with medical, financial, and work contacts, and an Otter Notetaker recorded, transcribed, and stored each conversation without their consent, according to the consolidated complaint. Illinois plaintiffs say Otter captured their voiceprints through speaker identification. The claims cite ECPA, CIPA, BIPA, and related state laws.
NPR reported the first suit, filed by Justin Brewer in August 2025. It alleges that connecting a host's calendar lets Otter join meetings without asking anyone, the host included. It also alleges that Otter does not tell participants their recordings help train its models.
What the August 2026 ruling decided
Judge Eumi K. Lee rejected Otter's argument that the plaintiffs lacked standing, and distinguished recordings of private conversations from website tracking. The court found that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged Otter is a third-party eavesdropper on the call, because it allegedly uses recordings for its own purposes. The wiretap and BIPA claims survived.
The court dismissed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claims and several state and common-law privacy claims. It allowed amendment except for claims the plaintiffs had withdrawn, and gave the plaintiffs 14 days to file an amended complaint. The National Law Review and UC Today both describe the core privacy claims as surviving.
Where the case stands
No amended complaint followed, and on September 17, 2026 Otter answered the consolidated complaint. Otter admits that the notetaker appears as a participant in meetings it is allowed to join. It denies the core allegations, including that the notetaker records without notice and that Otter keeps voiceprints. Its defenses include consent, waiver, and lack of standing.
On September 16, 2026, the court extended the schedule at both sides' request and said it is not inclined to extend it again. Alternative dispute resolution must finish by April 14, 2027, and the court will hear the class certification request by September 15, 2027. CourtListener's copy of the docket shows stipulated orders through October 23, 2026 and no settlement.
Why it matters to a buyer
The ruling decides the pleadings and makes no finding against Otter. It shows which facts the court examined: whether every participant was told, whether the vendor reuses recordings, and whether voice data identifies people. Each maps to a setting the buyer controls.
- Set auto-join to meetings people select, and lock it on Enterprise.
- Turn on pre-recording emails and keep the chat announcement on. On Enterprise for Teams, add the recording permissions page.
- Set Help improve Otter to Don't allow sharing for every user, or confirm the Enterprise opt-out.
- On Enterprise, ask Otter to turn off speaker learning where biometric rules apply.
- Set a retention period on Enterprise, and remove audio where transcripts are enough.
How organizations are responding
The University of Alabama approved paid Otter plans with restrictions after its 2024 pilot. VCU blocks Otter because it has no contract protecting university data. Virginia Tech listed Otter among unauthorized assistants in March 2026. IT teams on Reddit and Microsoft Q&A describe blocking Otter in Microsoft 365 tenants and requiring verification for outside joiners, whether or not their own staff use it. Reporters on r/Journalism describe newsrooms dropping Otter.
Methodology
GILD read the record on CourtListener on October 25, 2026: the August 13, 2026 order in In re Otter.ai Privacy Litigation and the September 16, 2026 scheduling order. It also read Otter's September 17, 2026 answer and the docket through October 23, 2026. Coverage includes NPR on August 15, 2025, The National Law Review on August 17, 2026, and UC Today on August 18, 2026. GILD checked Otter's terms, privacy policy, and help center on October 12, 2026. Organization and IT accounts come from GILD's Otter records. GILD offers no legal opinion. Recording and biometric law varies by jurisdiction.
Products in this piece
Sources
- Official documentation
- 8
- Public source
- 12
- Otter.ai Terms of Service (effective September 19, 2025)
- Otter.ai Privacy Policy (effective June 16, 2026)
- Otter Help Center: Provide feedback to Otter
- Otter Help Center: Recording Permissions with Otter
- Otter Help Center: Enforce pre-meeting recording notifications
- Otter Help Center: Enterprise Admin Controls Overview
- Otter Help Center: Disable Speaker Learning
- Otter Help Center: Set a custom Data Retention policy
- U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.: In re Otter.ai Privacy Litigation, Order Granting Motion to Dismiss in Part (Aug 13, 2026)
- The National Law Review: Court Holds That Otter.ai Is A Third-Party Eavesdropper (Aug 17, 2026)
- UC Today: Otter.ai Fails to Dismiss Core Privacy Claims in U.S. Court (Aug 18, 2026)
- NPR: Class-action suit claims Otter AI secretly records private work conversations (Aug 15, 2025)
- The University of Alabama OIT: Otter.AI Pilot (Oct 1, 2024)
- VCU Technology Services: Otter.ai is blocked and can't be reached (last updated Jun 12, 2026)
- Virginia Tech Division of Information Technology: Use of unauthorized AI meeting assistants (Mar 11, 2026)
- Reddit r/sysadmin: How to fully remove Otter.ai from M365? (Oct 16, 2025)
- Microsoft Q&A: I want to block Otter.ai from any of my tenant user accounts (Jul 1, 2025)
- U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.: In re Otter.ai Privacy Litigation, Amended Case Management & Scheduling Order (Sep 16, 2026)
- U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal.: In re Otter.ai Privacy Litigation, Defendant Otter.ai's Answer to Plaintiffs' Consolidated Class Action Complaint (Sep 17, 2026)
- CourtListener: In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, 5:25-cv-06911 (N.D. Cal.) docket (viewed Oct 25, 2026)