Cheap TVs aren’t always cheap. A good chunk of the money in the smart TV business comes after the sale, from ads and from data about what plays on the screen.
The tech behind that second part has a dull name: automatic content recognition, or ACR. It’s built into many smart TVs, and on a lot of them you agreed to it in about two seconds during setup, somewhere between picking a language and typing your Wi-Fi password. The good news? On the big brands you can usually turn it off. Takes a few minutes, tops.
What ACR actually does
Picture Shazam, except it’s glued to your screen and nobody pressed the button. Little fingerprints of whatever’s playing get grabbed (sound, picture or both; brands differ) and checked against a giant catalog of shows, movies and commercials. The sneaky part is the HDMI angle. Cable box, rabbit-ear antenna, the console your kid plays on after school: ACR can often recognize those too, not only the apps baked into the TV.
What lands in the log varies by company. Samsung’s support page says its ACR can capture viewing history, such as programs viewed and time spent watching, plus TV identifiers and your IP address. Vizio’s list is longer. Its viewing data notice covers what’s on screen, which input you’re on, the gadgets hooked up to the set, an IP address and a device ID, and says all of it can be linked to a Vizio or Walmart account. Hisense? Its Enhanced Viewing Service notice names viewing history, hashed audio signatures, generalized location.
Who uses it? The TV makers, their ad arms and partners (LG Ad Solutions, Samba TV on certain Sony sets, an ACR provider named Nexxen in Hisense’s notice), and measurement firms. Nielsen and comScore get a mention on Roku’s ad-tracking page. And the payoff, mostly, is ads. Some land on the TV. Others follow you to the laptop or phone sitting on the same home Wi-Fi.
Why regulators keep circling back
This isn’t new. Back in February 2017, the FTC and New Jersey went after Vizio over viewing histories pulled from 11 million smart TVs without consent; Vizio settled for $2.2 million. Under that order, Vizio had to spell out its data practices prominently and get affirmative express consent before collecting or sharing what people watched.
Eight-plus years later, Texas picked the fight back up. On December 15, 2025, its Attorney General filed suit against five companies at once (Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense, TCL), citing the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and claiming ACR tracked what Texans watched without real consent. The AG’s press release claimed the software can capture screenshots of the display every 500 milliseconds. Those were allegations, and LG publicly says its ACR doesn’t collect screenshots. Two days later the AG announced a temporary restraining order against Hisense.
Then came the settlements:
- Samsung (announced February 26, 2026): must stop collecting or processing ACR viewing data from Texas consumers without express consent, and add clear consent screens.
- LG (announced May 11, 2026): won’t use ACR to collect viewing data without informed consent, must show a pop-up disclosure on its TVs, and must give users a simple way to opt out.
In the LG release, the AG said the cases against Sony, Hisense and TCL remained ongoing. TCL’s comes with a footnote. It got tossed on March 31, 2026 (dismissed without prejudice, after TCL argued the court lacked jurisdiction), and Texas appealed that same day. So nobody has ruled yet on whether TCL did anything wrong. As of October 2026 the appeal was still waiting on a decision. Sony or Hisense? Nothing newer from the AG. Worth noting: both deals were announced for Texas consumers. Live somewhere else? The switch hunt is on you.
How to turn it off, brand by brand
A warning up front: menus shift between model years, and again after software updates. So read these as rough directions, current as of October 2026. Two groups here. The first table covers TVs whose makers name an ACR or viewing data switch in their own documentation. The second covers devices where the official pages only describe general privacy or ad settings, which is a different thing. Screen looks different? Hunt through the privacy section for the setting name.
TVs with an ACR or viewing data control in official documentation
| Brand | Setting to look for | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung | Viewing Information Services | Settings, then the Terms & Privacy area (exact path varies by model) |
| LG (webOS) | Viewing Information Agreement (part of User Agreements) | Settings > Privacy & Terms > User Agreements (some models: All Settings > Support > Privacy & Terms) |
| Sony (only models that support Samba TV) | Samba Interactive TV | System Preferences > Samba Interactive TV |
| Roku TV (including TCL Roku TV models) | Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), or “Use info from TV inputs” on some guides | Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience |
| Vizio | Viewing Data | All Settings > Privacy & Legal > Viewing Data (older: Admin & Privacy) |
| Hisense | Enhanced Viewing Service | TV Settings (exact menu varies) |
Devices with general privacy or ad settings (not an ACR switch)
| Device | Setting | Where to look | What it controls, per the official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Fire TV | Device Usage Data | Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings | Amazon’s use of device usage data (home screen navigation, settings, opening and closing apps) for marketing offers and product improvement |
| Amazon Fire TV | Collect App Usage Data | Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings | Amazon’s collection of when third-party apps open and close and how long they’re used |
| Amazon Fire TV | Interest-based Ads | Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings | Whether apps can use the advertising ID to build ad profiles or show interest-based ads |
| Smart TVs with Fire TV | Over-the-air Viewing Data | Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings | Information sent to Amazon about antenna TV watched on the set |
| Google TV (including TCL and Sony Google TV models) | Ads (Reset or Delete advertising ID) | Settings > Privacy > Ads | The advertising ID only; Google says you can’t turn off ads. No official TCL ACR path confirmed as of October 2026 |
Samsung. Samsung says ACR only runs if you agreed to Viewing Information Services, and that you can change it any time in the Settings menu. On many sets that lives in a Terms & Privacy section.
LG. LG says ACR is off by default and needs the Viewing Information Agreement. To change your choices, go to Settings > Privacy & Terms > User Agreements and uncheck it. The optional agreements (viewing information, voice, personalized ads) aren’t required for basic smart features. One catch LG mentions: the viewing agreement can be tied to some voice functions.
Sony. Not every BRAVIA has Samba TV. Sony’s FAQ ties it to certain Android TV and Google TV models, and availability varies by region and model year. Where it exists, Samba Interactive TV is the ACR piece, and it’s opt in. Disable it under System Preferences > Samba Interactive TV. Sony says that stops it collecting viewing history; deleting history already collected means emailing Samba TV. No Samba menu on your set? It may simply not have the feature. Google TV’s own Settings > Privacy > Ads screen is a separate control that manages the advertising ID, not ACR.
Roku TV. Press Home, then Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience, highlight Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) and press OK. Roku also lets you change it at my.roku.com under Privacy Settings. Heads up: Roku keeps data it collected while ACR was on, and turning ACR off also turns off “More Ways to Watch.”
Vizio. All Settings > Privacy & Legal > Viewing Data on newer TVs; Admin & Privacy on older ones. Vizio says switching it off deletes that device’s viewing data logs from its database and doesn’t hurt performance.
Fire TV. Different animal. The menu is Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings. Amazon’s FAQ, though, never calls any of these an ACR switch. Device Usage Data means what the operating system logs as you poke around (home screen, settings, apps opening and closing); switch it off and Amazon stops using that for marketing offers and improving its products. Collect App Usage Data tracks third-party app use. Interest-based Ads? That one tells apps not to use your advertising ID for ad profiles. On smart TVs with Fire TV built in, Amazon also lists Over-the-air Viewing Data, which covers antenna TV only. Amazon says turning them off doesn’t break features, but you’ll still get ads.
Hisense and TCL. Hisense’s notice says you can turn off the Enhanced Viewing Service any time in the TV’s Settings. Resetting the TV’s identifier, it adds, is not the same as opting out. TCL models running Roku follow the Roku path above. TCL Google TV sets are murkier. As of October 2026 there’s no officially confirmed ACR off path for them. Yes, Settings > Privacy > Ads is there. All it touches is the Google advertising ID. Not ACR. Best bet: dig through Settings > Privacy for wording like viewing information or content recognition, then pull up TCL’s privacy notice for your exact model.
Turning ACR off doesn’t make the TV private
Fair warning. ACR is one data stream, not the whole river.
Vizio says plainly that turning off Viewing Data doesn’t limit its collection of “Activity Data.” Roku’s privacy policy notes it still gets information about how you use the device through other methods. Apps you stream through collect their own data. And the home screen ads? Those stay. Google’s help page puts it bluntly: you can’t turn off ads on Google TV, only control how your advertising ID is used.
Your choice isn’t locked in forever, either. A factory reset puts everything back to defaults (Vizio says Viewing Data goes back to OFF; other brands may ask again during setup), and new privacy terms can bring a fresh consent screen. So after a big update? I’d spend 30 seconds making sure the setting still reads the way you left it.
How to check if ACR is turned off
First thing: the name, because every brand calls it something else (Viewing Information Services, Viewing Data, Samba Interactive TV, Enhanced Viewing Service), so match your TV to the first table above. An ads or advertising ID menu is a separate setting and won’t tell you anything about ACR.
Next, open that exact setting and look at its state. Box unchecked? Toggle on Off? Agreement withdrawn? On a Roku, my.roku.com shows it too, under Privacy Settings. LG? Reopen the User Agreements screen.
No setting by that name anywhere? Then search the maker’s support site by your model number. Generic guides (this one included) can lag behind a firmware update.
And repeat it now and then. A factory reset wipes your preferences back to the defaults. Updates work differently: they can bring new terms or a consent screen you haven’t seen, so it’s worth confirming your choice is still in place afterward. Read new agreements before tapping Accept.
Other ways to cut the tracking
- Don’t connect the TV to the internet. Offline, the TV can’t send ACR data over the internet by itself. That doesn’t cover what’s plugged into it, though: a streaming stick, game console or cable box has its own connection, and the apps and services on it can keep collecting data that way. You lose the built-in apps, so this only works if you stream through something else.
- Use a streaming stick or box instead. It has its own privacy settings to review, but a stick plugged into an offline TV keeps the TV’s ACR out of the loop.
- Reset or delete your advertising ID. Two different moves. Google TV keeps both under Settings > Privacy > Ads. Reset hands you a new ID, and apps can keep showing personalized ads. Delete? No new ID gets assigned, though Google says ads based on other factors, like info you’ve shared with apps, may still show up. On Fire TV, the ID reset and the Interest-based Ads toggle both live under Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings. Neither is a delete button for viewing history, and neither turns off ACR or other data collection.
Shopping on Black Friday?
Quick tip, no lecture. The cheapest moment to protect your privacy is the setup screen. You can usually decline viewing data agreements there and still get the core smart features. Read each screen instead of hitting “Accept all.”
Want to see where your data goes once it leaves the TV? Our explainer on data brokers and your financial data covers the next step in the chain. And if you’re weighing an open-box or refurbished set, check our guide on whether refurbished tech is worth it, plus our look at the smart home subscription trap.
What to do this week
- Find your TV’s privacy menu and switch off the ACR or viewing data setting from the first table.
- Check the separate ads setting too, and reset or delete your advertising ID (that handles ads, not ACR).
- Buying a new TV? Decline the viewing data screens during setup.
- Big update or a reset? Peek at the setting again afterward.
Disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Menu names and privacy terms vary by model, region and software version and can change at any time. Check your TV maker’s current privacy notice and support pages before relying on any setting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ACR on by default?
Depends who made it. LG’s answer: off until you accept its viewing agreement. Samsung’s: ACR runs only if you agreed to Viewing Information Services. That “agreeing” usually happens on a setup screen, at 9 p.m., with a new TV and zero patience.
Will turning off ACR break my TV’s apps?
Usually not. LG and Vizio both say core features keep working. On Roku, though, “More Ways to Watch” stops working.
Does turning off ACR delete what was already collected?
Not always. Vizio says it deletes that device’s viewing logs. Roku says it keeps data gathered while ACR was on. For Samba TV on Sony sets, Sony says to email Samba TV.
What happened with the Texas lawsuits?
Texas sued five TV makers in December 2025. Samsung settled first (announced February 26, 2026), and LG followed (announced May 11, 2026). In May, the AG still listed the cases against Sony, Hisense and TCL as ongoing. TCL’s case, though, was dismissed without prejudice on March 31, 2026, after TCL challenged the court’s jurisdiction. Texas appealed, and as of October 2026 the appeal was still pending.
Will I stop seeing ads?
Nope. Ads built on your viewing habits may thin out. The home screen tiles and the ads inside apps generally stick around.
Sources
- FTC: VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 Million Smart Televisions without Users’ Consent (www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases)
- Texas Attorney General: Attorney General Paxton Sues Five Major TV Companies (www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-paxton-sues-five-major-tv-companies-including-some-ties-ccp-spying-texans)
- Texas Attorney General: Court order against Hisense (www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-secures-court-order-stopping-ccp-aligned-smart-tv-company-spying-texans)
- Texas Attorney General: Agreement with Samsung (www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-paxton-secures-major-agreement-samsung-ensure-texans-are-protected-smart-tvs)
- Texas Attorney General: Agreement with LG (www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-secures-major-agreement-lg-protect-texans-privacy-and-stop-data-being)
- Search Cause No. 25-3563-C368 in the Williamson County Records Inquiry portal (https://judicialrecords.wilco.org/PublicAccess/default.aspx)
- Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals: The State of Texas v. TTE Technology, Inc., dba TCL North America, No. 15-26-00088-CV (search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx)
- Bloomberg Law (court reporting): TCL Grabs Latest Win Over Paxton’s Texas TV Spying Claims, March 31, 2026 (news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/tcl-grabs-latest-win-over-paxtons-texas-tv-spying-claims)
- Samsung: Samsung Smart TV Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) Feature (www.samsung.com/support/answer)
- LG: Statement, Understanding Privacy on LG Smart TVs (www.lg.com/global/newsroom/news/statements/statement-understanding-privacy-on-lg-smart-tvs)
- LG: How to Accept the Updated User Agreements on Your LG TV (www.lg.com/support/help-library)
- LG: How to Agree to the User Agreements (www.lg.com/support/help-library)
- Sony Canada: Information about Samba TV (www.sony.ca/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-lcd-tvs-android-/articles)
- Sony UK: Frequently Asked Questions about Samba TV (www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles)
- Roku: Using “More Ways to Watch” on your Roku TV (support.roku.com/article/using-more-ways-to-watch-on-your-roku-tv)
- Roku: Ad tracking and measurement (docs.roku.com/api/published/adtracking/text)
- Roku: Privacy Policy (docs.roku.com/published/userprivacypolicy)
- VIZIO: Viewing Data Supplement (www.vizio.com/terms/privacy-policy/viewing-data-privacy-policy)
- Amazon: Privacy Settings FAQs for Fire TV Products (www.amazon.com/help/customer/display.html)
- Amazon Developer: Advertising ID Policy (developer.amazon.com/docs/policy-center/advertising-id.html)
- Hisense USA: Enhanced Viewing Service Privacy Notice (https://web.archive.org/web/20260417210900/https://www.hisense-usa.com/compliance/enhanced-viewing-service-privacy-notice-(effective-date%3A-march-01%2C-2025))
- Google TV Help: Change ad settings for your Google TV (support.google.com/googletv/answer)
