Samsung and several other television brands are facing legal action in the United States over concerns about data privacy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated lawsuits against Samsung, Hisense, LG, Sony, and TCL, accusing them of unlawfully collecting personal data from consumers via smart TVs. The lawsuits claim that these brands use Automated Content Recognition technology to capture screenshots of TV content every 500 milliseconds, monitoring viewers’ activities in real time and transmitting this data to company servers or partners without user consent.
The lawsuit against Samsung highlights that most consumers are unaware that their smart TVs might be capturing audio and visuals from their screens to profile them for advertisers. Filed in district courts across Texas, the lawsuits allege violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. They argue that collecting consumer data for personalized recommendations and targeted advertising is not justifiable. The lawsuits seek damages of up to $10,000 per violation for individuals under 65 and up to $250,000 for those 65 and older.
Additionally, Texas seeks to halt the collection, sharing, and selling of consumer data during the legal proceedings. Concerns are heightened regarding Hisense and TCL, based in China, due to potential data access by the Chinese government. It’s also claimed that opting out of data monitoring on these TVs is complicated, often requiring more than 15 clicks. For Samsung TVs, while data monitoring is easily enabled during setup, disabling it requires navigating through multiple settings, including turning off Viewing Information Services and Interest-Based Ads.
