Texas Sues TV Giants Over 'Digital Eavesdropping'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing five major TV makers—including Sony, Samsung, and LG—for allegedly turning smart TVs into surveillance devices that illegally harvest and sell viewer data. The lawsuits claim the practice violates the state's deceptive trade laws.

• Your TV is listening: The lawsuits target the use of Automated Content Recognition (ACR), a kind of digital eavesdropper that builds detailed consumer profiles for targeted advertising. The complaints allege the technology goes beyond tracking shows, capturing data from connected gaming consoles and even monitoring personal content streamed from a phone or laptop.

• Consent by confusion: The state claims manufacturers deploy "dark patterns"—deceptive interface designs meant to manipulate users into agreement. According to one complaint, enabling tracking can be a one-click process, while opting out requires navigating more than 15 clicks across multiple menus.

• A China connection: The legal action also singles out Chinese-based firms Hisense and TCL, raising national security concerns over data privacy. Paxton's office contends that China's National Security Law could compel these companies to hand over 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 stated.

This legal battle echoes past privacy fights, notably a 2017 case where Vizio paid $2.2 million to settle similar charges, suggesting a costly precedent has already been set for undisclosed TV tracking. The full legal petitions filed by the Texas AG's office are available online, including the specific complaints against major manufacturers like Samsung and LG, as well as the filings that detail national security concerns related to Hisense and TCL.