SAMSUNG has settled a lawsuit with the Texas Attorney General over how its smart TVs collect and monetise viewing data using Automated Content Recognition (ACR), agreeing to stop collecting ACR data from Texans without explicit, informed consent and to rewrite its on-screen privacy prompts and dialogs. According to Texas Attorney General, Paxton, Samsung is one of the first smart TV makers to make these changes.
The suit, brought alongside other TV makers such as Hisense, Sony, LG and TCL, characterised ACR as a mass surveillance programme that profiles what people watch for advertising and monetisation. The New York class action alleging tracking of viewing data to Google and X (Twitter) also notes that Samsung records image and audio every 500 ms and that its privacy notice downplays the scope of data collection.
For those wishing to limit or disable ACR, the article provides model-specific steps, including turning off Viewing Information Services on Samsung TVs and similar options on LG, Vizio, Sony, Roku, and other brands.