Smart TVs Track Everything on Screen via ACR; Samsung and LG Settle Lawsuits

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A 2024 study by researchers from UC Davis, University College London, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid found that Samsung and LG smart TVs continuously capture on-screen content using Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), regardless of whether the source is a streaming app, live broadcast, or an external device connected via HDMI. Samsung TVs transmitted this data to company servers roughly every minute, while LG TVs did so every 15 seconds. In December 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued five major TV manufacturers — Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, and TCL — alleging ACR captures screenshots as frequently as every 500 milliseconds without adequate user consent. Samsung settled in February 2026, committing to obtain informed consent before collecting ACR data, followed by a similar LG settlement in May 2026, while cases against the remaining three manufacturers remain ongoing. Experts advise users to manually disable ACR-related settings — such as LG's 'Live Plus' — across multiple menu layers, as a single opt-out toggle is often insufficient.

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