Your smart TV might be a little too smart. A Texas lawmaker is suing five major television producers, claiming they monitor what you watch to build profiles and serve ads…or worse.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday filed suit against Samsung, Sony, LG, TCL and Hisense, alleging in a press release that they “improperly collected personal data through Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology.”
What ACR does and why you might care
Companies like LG, Hisense, Samsung and others are apparently now using ACR to identify what you’re watching and connect you with relevant content, marketing and advertising.
Paxton’s suit alleges that these ACR systems can take screenshots of viewing habits as often as every 500 milliseconds, and that the TV manufacturers “transmit that information back to the company without the user’s knowledge or consent.”
In general, however, data specific to who you are, such as name, photos, address, etc., are not part of this delivery. Instead, third-party partners receive information about content interests, and TVs or broadcasters act as intermediaries, providing related content recommendations and advertising.
This is not the first time that ACR systems have run afoul of the law. Back in 2017, Vizo paid a $2 million fine to the FTC to settle a claim that it monitored viewer histories without proper consent.
There is no doubt that these systems exist. On a test LG TV in our labs, we spent some time navigating to a well-hidden Live Plus setting.
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Live Plus is LG’s version of ACR and, as LG describes it, when you enable it, “the content displayed on your TV can be recognized and the viewing information can be used to provide you with an enhanced viewing experience and personalized services, including content recommendations and advertisements.”
We never enabled Live Plus and it seemed to be on by default. However, it is also possible that during setup the TV may have asked if we would like “an enhanced and personalized viewing experience.” Who wouldn’t say yes to that?
However, Paxton’s concerns go beyond just advertising and marketing. He notes that some of these TV companies, such as TCL and Hisense, are based in China. “Companies, especially those associated with the Chinese Communist Party, have no business illegally recording Americans’ devices in their own homes,” Paxton said in the release.
What’s next
When we reached out to the manufacturers for comment, TCL told us that they “do not comment on active litigation.” Sony told us, “it does not comment on pending legal matters.” Hisense told us, “Hisense stands by the high quality of its products. According to company policy, we are unable to comment further on matters of a legal nature.” We have yet to hear back from Samsung and LG.
Whatever happens with this lawsuit, it might be a good time to check your smart TVs’ ACR settings, see if they’re enabled, and maybe turn them off if you don’t want one of these companies to see what you’re watching.
Most reports we read said that disabling ACR disables all communication between the TVs and the ACR servers. Just remember that the next ads and TV show recommendations you see on your smart TV may have little to do with your interests.
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