Texas Attorney General sues major TV makers over alleged secret data collection

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits Monday against five major television manufacturers, accusing them of illegally collecting and monetizing consumer viewing data by secretly recording what users watch through Automated Content Recognition technology.

The lawsuits, filed in Texas state courts, name Sony, Samsung, LG, and China-based companies Hisense and TCL Technology Group Corporation. The actions allege that the manufacturers embedded ACR technology in smart televisions to monitor viewing activity without users’ knowledge or meaningful consent.

ACR technology is alleged to capture screenshots of television displays as frequently as every 500 milliseconds, track viewing behavior in real time, and transmit that data back to company servers. The complaints assert that the collected information is used for profiling and targeted advertising, and in some cases sold to third parties.

The attorney general’s office described ACR as an invasive surveillance tool operating invisibly within consumers’ homes. The lawsuits contend that the practice violates Texas privacy and consumer protection laws by misleading users and harvesting personal data without proper disclosure.

The filings also raise national security concerns related to Hisense and TCL, noting that both companies are subject to China’s National Security Law. The attorney general’s office said this requirement could compel the companies to provide access to U.S. consumer data to the Chinese government.

“Companies, especially those connected to the Chinese Communist Party, have no business illegally recording Americans’ devices inside their own homes,” Paxton said. He called the alleged conduct invasive, deceptive, and unlawful, adding that Texans should not have to surrender their personal information simply by owning a television.

Sony, Samsung, Hisense, and TCL did not provide immediate responses. LG said it does not generally comment on pending legal matters.

The lawsuits echo earlier enforcement actions involving smart television data collection. In 2017, smart TV manufacturer Vizio, owned by Walmart at the time, paid $2.2 million to resolve allegations by federal and state regulators that it collected viewing data from 11 million consumers without their consent. Regulators found that Vizio tracked content viewed across cable, streaming services, and DVDs, attached demographic data such as age and income, and sold the information for targeted advertising.