Texas court halts Samsung smart TV data collection affecting local viewers

Attorney General Ken Paxton won a temporary restraining order on January 6 that bars Samsung and anyone acting in active concert with the company from using, selling, transferring, collecting, or sharing Automated Content Recognition (ACR) data related to Texas consumers. The District Court found good cause to believe Samsung’s practices violated, or were likely to violate, Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The court order targets ACR systems that the state alleges captured screenshots from televisions every 500 milliseconds without consumers’ knowledge or consent. According to the attorney general’s office, Samsung is one of five major manufacturers sued for deploying the technology and collecting sensitive user information without proper disclosure.

“ The days of Big Tech digitally invading Americans' homes and spying on them are over,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton. “The right to privacy is fundamental, yet for too long smart TV manufacturers like Samsung were secretly using advanced technology to spy on Texans without their knowledge. Now, after filing our lawsuit just a few weeks ago, we’ve secured a court order stopping this unlawful monitoring. This is a major win for Texans and for digital privacy.”

The order follows a similar directive the attorney general secured against Hisense, a manufacturer described by the office as connected to the Chinese Communist Party, to stop using ACR technology to monitor Texans. The broader legal challenge aims to curtail a set of industry practices that the state says allowed manufacturers and their partners to harvest detailed viewing and on-screen information without adequate consent.

For Collin County residents, the TRO provides an immediate, though temporary, safeguard against further collection or sharing of ACR data tied to Texas consumers. Smart televisions with ACR enabled could have captured sensitive on-screen content, including search queries, streaming choices, and other personal information displayed during viewing. The order interrupts that flow of data while the courts examine the legal claims.

The litigation could have wider policy implications for consumer privacy, advertising practices, and how state law applies to connected devices. A successful challenge under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act may prompt manufacturers to change default settings, improve disclosures, and offer clearer opt-out mechanisms for Texans.

Residents with smart TVs should review device privacy settings, look for advertising or viewing-data opt-out options, and install official software updates from manufacturers. The restraining order is temporary; further rulings will determine whether the practices are permanently curtailed. Collin County viewers should monitor official notices from device makers and court filings for updates as the case moves forward.