PS5 Voice Chats Can Be Recorded and Sent to Sony

In Sony’s own words: “Following this update, users are seeing a notification about Party Safety and that voice chats in parties may be recorded. Voice chat recording for moderation is a feature that will be available on PS5 when it launches, and will enable users to record their voice chats on PS5 and submit them for moderation review. The pop up you’re seeing on PS4 right now is to let you know that when you participate in a chat with a PS5 user (post-launch), they may submit those recordings from their PS5 console to SIE.”

While Sony has set out what it claims is the purpose of the feature – to moderate voice chats for abuse and other behaviour that is contrary to the user agreement – what is notably missing is what is NOT the purpose of the feature.

As commentators have immediately pointed out, there are obvious privacy concerns that arise as a result of the feature, as well as debate over the role of game developers in regulating user behaviour and the right of game developers to collect, use, and/or sell data mined from those chats. Looking a step further, could Sony be compelled to release recordings to the police or other government organizations? Practically, all players who participate in voice chats should assume that anything they say (or don’t say!) can be used against them; on the balance of everything, is this a step in the right direction?