Microsoft Teams BIPA Class Action — Voice Data Collected Without Consent

Microsoft Teams BIPA Voice Data Class Action Lawsuit 2026

Published: March 11, 2026

Status: Newly Filed — No Settlement

Potential Damages: $1,000 – $5,000 per violation under Illinois BIPA

What Is This About?

If you have ever participated in a Microsoft Teams meeting where the transcription feature was turned on, your voice may have been turned into a biometric profile — a "voiceprint" — without your knowledge or consent.

A class action lawsuit filed on February 5, 2026, alleges that Microsoft illegally collected and stored voiceprints from Teams meeting participants through its real-time transcription feature. The transcription feature, introduced in 2021, works by analyzing each speaker's voice — including pitch, tone, and timbre — to figure out who is saying what. This process, called "diarization," creates unique biometric voice profiles for each participant. The lawsuit argues this constitutes collection of biometric data under Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) — and Microsoft never told users it was happening, never explained how the data would be used or stored, and never obtained anyone's written consent.

Unlike a password, you cannot change your voiceprint once it has been captured. That is exactly why Illinois enacted BIPA in 2008 — to protect biometric data that, once compromised, cannot be undone.

Who Might Qualify?

The plaintiffs want to represent all individuals who participated in Microsoft Teams meetings with live transcription enabled while they resided in (or were present in) Illinois from March 1, 2021 to the present. People who voluntarily enrolled in a Microsoft Intelliframe voice profile are excluded.

Microsoft Teams has over 320 million monthly active users, so the potential class could be very large. If you live or work in Illinois and have participated in any transcribed Teams meeting since 2021, you may be a potential class member.

How Much Could This Be Worth?

Under BIPA, damages are $1,000 per negligent violation or $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation (or actual damages, whichever is greater). BIPA has produced some of the largest privacy settlements in history, including a $650 million settlement against Facebook for facial recognition and a $68 million settlement against Instagram.

No settlement has been reached in this case. Microsoft has not yet responded to the complaint in court.

Microsoft is also facing a separate securities class action by investors over its AI business — see our coverage of the Microsoft Azure and Copilot shareholder class action lawsuit.

Case Information

Caption: Basich et al. v. Microsoft Corporation, Case No. 2:26-cv-00422
Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Filed: February 5, 2026
Plaintiffs: Alex Basich, Kristin Bondlow, Marquis Boyce, Jessica Brewer, Jamari Brown (all Illinois residents)
Judge: Hon. John H. Chun
Status: Newly filed — no settlement, no claim form

Free settlement alerts

Join thousands of readers who get the latest class action settlements you may qualify for — delivered straight to your inbox.