Smart TV Lawsuits Q2: Samsung Settles, TCL Dismissed, Sony Ongoing

The Texas smart TV lawsuits filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton in December 2025 have produced mixed results so far: Samsung and LG have settled by agreeing to stop collecting viewing data without express consent, TCL won an early dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, and the cases against Sony and Hisense are still active, with a temporary restraining order continuing to block Hisense from collecting Texans’ viewing data.¹²

What Texas Accused the TV Makers of Doing

All five suits, filed December 15, 2025, targeted the same technology: Automated Content Recognition, or ACR. The systems capture audio and visual samples from whatever appears on the screen and match them against a database of known content. Samsung’s petition alleged its system sampled every 500 milliseconds and monitored not only built-in streaming apps but anything routed through HDMI, including cable boxes, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and laptops used as external monitors.³⁴

Texas alleged the manufacturers used the resulting profiles to infer sensitive traits — political leanings, health interests, marital status, religion, sexual orientation — and shared that data with ad networks and data brokers. Samsung’s tracking program, labeled “Viewing Information Services,” allegedly took more than fifteen clicks across multiple menus to disable, and initial device setup bundled tracking consent with basic device functions behind a single “I Agree to all” button.³ The legal theory in every case was the same: violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act through inadequate notice and lack of meaningful consent.⁵

Where Each Case Stands

Samsung: Settled February 2026

Samsung was first to settle. On February 26, 2026, the company agreed to stop collecting or processing ACR viewing data without first obtaining express consent from Texas consumers, and to update its smart TVs with clear disclosure and consent screens.⁶ The agreement did not include monetary penalties, but Samsung was required to implement the changes promptly.⁷ The settlement followed a temporary restraining order a Collin County court had issued on January 5, 2026.

LG: Settled with Consent Requirements

LG reached a similar agreement, promising to stop using ACR to collect viewing data without informed consent. LG must display a pop-up on its TVs explaining how viewing data is collected and used, and it must offer a clear opt-out. The agreement also explicitly prohibits LG from transferring viewing data to the Chinese Communist Party. LG did not admit liability or wrongdoing, and no monetary penalty was publicly reported.¹⁸

TCL: Dismissed for Lack of Jurisdiction

TCL got the earliest and cleanest procedural win. On March 31, 2026, Judge Rick Kennon of the 512th District Court in Williamson County ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction over TCL for the claims asserted.² Whether Texas refiles elsewhere or reworks its theory has not been announced.

Hisense: Restrained and Still in Litigation

A Comal County court issued a temporary restraining order shortly after filing that barred Hisense from collecting, using, sharing, selling, or transferring ACR data on Texas residents while the lawsuit proceeds.⁹ That order remains in effect, and the case is still active.¹⁰ Paxton’s filing against Hisense also invoked China’s National Security Law, alleging the company was legally obligated to hand over user data on demand from the Chinese government while disclosing only that it “may transfer” that information.¹¹

Sony: Ongoing

The suit against Sony, filed in Nueces County, is still active as of mid-2026 with no settlement or dispositive ruling reported.¹

Why the Stakes Were So High

Texas sought permanent injunctions and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, with an additional $250,000 available for each violation affecting a consumer aged 65 or older.¹² Each affected consumer counts as a separate violation under the statute.¹³ Samsung alone had an estimated installed base of roughly 2.49 million Texas households, and its ACR system had allegedly run continuously since January 2013, producing theoretical exposure in the billions.³ Hisense’s estimated Texas user base was about 1.27 million.¹¹ The Samsung and LG settlements produced behavioral changes rather than the enormous fines those numbers implied.

The Vizio Precedent

Smart TV ACR tracking had drawn legal consequences once before. In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission and the State of New Jersey settled charges against Vizio for tracking 11 million smart TV owners without consent, going back to 2014, and selling the data to advertisers after appending demographics.¹⁴ Vizio had even pushed the tracking software onto older TVs originally sold without it.¹⁵

Vizio paid $2.2 million ($1.5 million to the FTC, $700,000 to New Jersey), agreed to delete previously collected data, obtain affirmative consent going forward, and submit to 20 years of third-party compliance monitoring.¹⁴ A separate $17 million class action later paid roughly $16 per TV set to consumers who bought Vizios between February 2014 and February 2017.¹⁶ The current Texas outcomes stand in contrast: injunctive relief and consent-screen requirements, but no announced consumer payouts.

What This Means Outside Texas

These are state enforcement actions brought by the Texas Attorney General under Texas law, so the settlement terms with Samsung and LG govern conduct toward Texas consumers. The Hisense TRO likewise restrains data collection about Texas residents. Consumers in other states do not receive payments from these agreements, and there is no consumer claims process attached to them.

Kentucky, however, moved legislatively. An amendment to its comprehensive privacy law, HB 692, specifically prohibits collecting ACR data without consent and defines that data as viewing history identified through audio or video fingerprints. If it takes effect as scheduled on July 1, 2027, the Kentucky Attorney General could seek penalties of up to $7,500 per affected consumer.¹⁷ No other state attorneys general had filed comparable smart TV lawsuits as of mid-2026.

1
KVUE. AG Paxton LG Data Collection Agreement
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Bloomberg Tax. TCL Grabs Latest Win Over Paxtons Texas TV Spying Claims
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Texas Attorney General. Samsung TV Petition Filed
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Courthouse News Service. Texas AG Sues Smart TV Makers Over Data Privacy
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IAPP. Automated Content Recognition Technology Takes Privacy Enforcement Spotlight
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Texas Attorney General. Attorney General Paxton Secures Major Agreement Samsung Ensure Texans Are Protected Smart TVs
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Digital Policy Alert. Texas Attorney General Secures Agreement Requiring Samsung Electronics America Inc to Halt ACR Data Collection
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FOX 7 Austin. LG Smart TV ACR Data Collection Texas Settlement
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The Record. Hisense Ordered to Stop Data Collection Texas Lawsuit
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Willkie Compliance Concourse. Texas AG Obtains TRO to Prevent Hisense From Collecting Consumers Viewing Information Through Its Smart TVs
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The Texan. Texas Sues Five TV Companies Alleging Spying via Data Collection Practices
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Ars Technica. Texas Sues Biggest TV Makers Alleging Smart TVs Spy on Users Without Consent
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Sourcepoint. Texas AG Sues 5 Major TV Makers Over ACR Surveillance
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FTC. Vizio to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories
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FTC. What Vizio Was Doing Behind the TV Screen
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MediaPost. Privacy Settlement Vizio Pays Out $17 Million
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Sourcepoint. Kentucky Smart TV Consent Law FTC Childrens Privacy