AG Paxton Sues 5 Major TV Manufacturers for Allegedly Spying on Texans

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL Technology Group Corporation due to concerns their smart televisions are “secretly recording” users’ screen activities, including security cam footage and personal photos, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Dec. 15.

The lawsuits, filed in five different Texas district courts, are about the use of automatic content recognition (ACR) technology in television sets.

“ACR in its simplest terms is an uninvited, invisible digital invader. This software can capture screenshots of a user’s television display every 500 milliseconds, monitor viewing activity in real time, and transmit that information back to the company without the user’s knowledge or consent,” the Texas attorney general’s office said.

“The companies then sell that consumer information to target ads across platforms for a profit. This technology puts users’ privacy and sensitive information, such as passwords, bank information, and other personal information at risk.”

In its lawsuit against Sony, the state of Texas highlighted that ACR allegedly captures “everything” shown on the screen, not just TV shows. It captures security camera streams, and photos or videos sent via Apple AirPlay or Google Cast.

ACR captures such information “even when the TV is disconnected from the internet,” it said.

This data is then transmitted to the company when the connection is restored, with the stated purpose of installing firmware updates.

According to Census records, Texas has roughly 10.7 million households, out of which an estimated 7.8 million households have a Smart TV, according to the lawsuit.

“ACR captures or infers highly personal attributes pertaining to consumers’ race, sex, or religious and political beliefs, all of which fall under sensitive personal data categories under Texas’ state privacy law and nearly every other privacy regime both nationally and internationally,” the lawsuit said.

The collected data can be used to build consumer profiles to curate shows and ads they watch and how often they watch them. Furthermore, these consumer profiles can be cross-linked with other devices or screens for more comprehensive consumer tracking.

“Sony ACR data collection, when combined with identifiers, metadata, and network information, becomes a powerful tool for profiling, targeting, and behavioral tracking, often without informed consent,” the lawsuit said, adding that consumer profiles include private information such as political leanings, health interests, and family composition, thus turning TVs into “relentless surveillance” devices.

The lawsuit argues that Sony engaged in “false, deceptive, or misleading business practices” for collecting data and uses ACR data without adequate disclosure.

For instance, the ACR data collection is presented to customers in some cases as “Interactive TV Settings” that do not let customers know exactly what they are enabling on their devices, the lawsuit said.

Texas argued that the company’s actions violate the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which exists precisely to stop such activity.

“Texas families have the right to watch TV without being secretly surveilled or exploited. This lawsuit exists to protect that right,” the complaint said.

Similar claims were made in lawsuits filed against Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL.

The Epoch Times reached out to Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time. The companies have not published any responses to the accusations at the time of writing.

Deceptive and Intentional Backdoors

In addition to privacy issues, the lawsuits against Hisense and TCL raised concerns about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gaining access to ACR data of U.S. citizens.

Both companies are based in China—Hisense was founded in 1969 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, while TCL was founded in 1981 in Huizhou, Guangdong Province.

Hisense and TCL’s “entanglements” with the Chinese communist regime threaten Texans’ privacy, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuits, both companies are Chinese state-owned enterprises that have received “billions of dollars in Chinese government funds” to dominate global tech markets.

Meanwhile, TCL, under CCP control, “intentionally incorporates ‘backdoors’ into all of its TV sets which expose users to cyber breaches and data exfiltration at the hands of the CCP and other bad actors,” according to the lawsuit.

Chinese laws obligate Hisense and TCL to share user data when the CCP demands it, the lawsuits said, highlighting that this impacts nearly 1.27 million Texan Hisense Smart TV owners, and almost 2.95 million Texas citizens with TCL Smart TVs.

Hisense’s End User Terms and Conditions state it “may transfer” personal information of customers to the People’s Republic of China, the Hisense lawsuit said.

As for TCL, its terms and conditions and privacy policies state that they are governed by Chinese law. Nowhere does TCL disclose to Texans that “every image and sound” on their TVs will be collected and shared with the CCP upon request.

“The CCP may use the ACR data it collects from its Smart TVs to influence or compromise public figures in Texas, including judges, elected officials, and law enforcement, and for corporate espionage by surveilling those employed in critical infrastructure, as part of the CCP’s long-term plan to destabilize and undermine American democracy,” the lawsuits said.

As such, Hisense and TCL Smart TVs are “effectively Chinese-sponsored surveillance devices, recording the viewing habits of Texans at every turn without their knowledge or consent,” according to the lawsuits.

In the Dec. 15 statement, Paxton said that companies, especially those with ties to the CCP, have no business recording data from Americans’ devices inside their homes.

“This conduct is invasive, deceptive, and unlawful. The fundamental right to privacy will be protected in Texas because owning a television does not mean surrendering your personal information to Big Tech or foreign adversaries,” he said.

Chinese Tech Threat

The Texas lawsuit comes amid concerns about the Chinese tech presence in equipment used in the United States.

On Nov. 13, a bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requesting an investigation into networking equipment made by TP-Link Technologies and its affiliates.

TP-Link is a China-based company that designs and manufactures networking equipment, including internet-connected security cameras and other smart connectivity devices.

The company’s products are currently sold through the Army and Air Force Exchange and the Navy Exchange, which puts these devices in close proximity to U.S. military installations and personnel.

“China is looking for any way to infiltrate and undermine the United States,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), one of the lawmakers who wrote the letter, said in a Nov. 14 post on X.

“I am calling on the Trump admin to investigate and determine if TP-Link is a trojan horse for the CCP to spy on the American people and our military bases,” the letter said.

Meanwhile, on Dec. 10, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) introduced the Stopping Adversaries From Exploiting LiDAR (SAFE LiDAR) bill that seeks to phase out Chinese-manufactured sensors in U.S. critical infrastructure and self-driving vehicles, according to a Dec. 10 statement from the House Select Committee on the CCP.

LiDAR technology uses pulsed laser light to map surroundings by measuring the speed, distance, and altitude of objects, thus creating high-definition maps of environments. The tech is used in military, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, robot vacuums, and a host of other systems.

“The CCP has sought to dominate global LiDAR production, creating national-security risks including potential data exfiltration, sabotage, and the compromise of everything from critical infrastructure to the cars we drive,” the committee said.