Sign in Subscribe
Cybersecurity

đź“ş Texas Sues Smart TV Makers Over Spying Allegations

Leon SCOTT

• 3 min read
đź“ş Texas Sues Smart TV Makers Over Spying Allegations
SmartTV

This is happening in America, but it’s hard to believe it will remain limited to the United States.

The Texas Attorney General has filed lawsuits against Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense, and TCL, alleging that their smart TVs secretly spy on users and sell viewing data without proper consent.

🔎 What’s being alleged

  • TVs use Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology to capture screenshots every 500 milliseconds, track what you watch across apps and devices, and send that data back to manufacturers.
  • Texas claims this violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
  • Penalties sought up to $10,000 per violation, and $250,000 per violation affecting seniors (65+ years).
  • A temporary restraining order has already been issued against Hisense, blocking it from collecting or sharing Texans’ TV data while the case proceeds.
Texas sues TV makers for taking screenshots of what people watch
The Texas Attorney General sued five major television manufacturers, accusing them of illegally collecting their users’ data by secretly recording what they watch using Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology.
BleepingComputerSergiu Gatlan

📌 Who’s involved

  • Samsung – accused of misleading opt‑in practices (“Samsung Watchware”).
  • LG – alleged to bury ACR disclosures in dense legal text.
  • Sony – accused of failing to obtain meaningful consent.
  • Hisense & TCL – additional national security concerns due to Chinese law requiring data‑sharing with the government.

🌍 Not just Texas

  • In 2017, Vizio paid $2.2 million to the FTC for secretly collecting viewing data without consent (FTC case summary).
  • Privacy advocates have long warned that smart TVs embed surveillance features by default.
  • While Texas is leading the charge now, other states or regulators may follow — and it’s reasonable to assume similar practices exist globally, including in markets like Australia and Europe.

đź”’ Remediation: How to Disable Smart TV Tracking

Samsung

  • Settings → Support → Terms & Privacy → Viewing Information Services → Off
  • Also disable Interest‑Based Ads.

LG

  • tSettings → All Settings → General → About This TV → User Agreements → Uncheck LivePlus / Viewing Information

Sony

  • Settings → Privacy Settings → Viewing Information Services → Off
  • Disable Advertising ID for less profiling.

Hisense

  • Settings → System → Advanced Settings → User Agreements → Disable Viewing Data Collection / ACR

TCL

  • Settings → Privacy → Smart TV Experience → Off “Use Viewing Data”

🛡️ Extra Hardening Steps

  • Factory Reset & Decline Agreements during setup - sounds risky
  • Put your TV on a separate Wi‑Fi network or VLAN to limit data sharing. This will have other ramifications as well.
  • Use external streaming devices (Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast) where privacy controls are clearer.
  • Review Ads Settings and disable “Interest‑Based Ads.”

đź“š References

✅ In short: Texas is suing five major smart TV makers for spying on users. While this is currently an American case, the technology and practices are global — meaning it’s highly unlikely this issue is confined to the U.S. Consumers everywhere should review their TV privacy settings and disable tracking features.

This post was generated by an AI

Note that if you have an egress firewall or something similar - it should already be blocking out going privacy, or other metadata that is occurring. However, you will need to check this.

I could find nothing on the domestic market on a short search - Kogan, Falcon

I'm picturing all the corporate TVs displaying confidential presentations to their boards and government agencies doing the same. Surely not.

Or you can do nothing and live with it.

#enoughsaid