Consumers describe smart TVs tracking viewing habits and, in one disputed case, ambient sound, pushing some to disconnect their sets entirely. A Northeastern University study found that Samsung, Vizio and Roku TVs kept sending automatic-content-recognition traffic after owners switched tracking off, while LG, Sony, Amazon Fire TV and VIDAA honored the opt-out in tests.
Smart TVs collect viewing data by default on most brands, and recent reporting shows that turning the feature off in settings does not always stop the underlying network traffic. A peer-reviewed study and a wave of consumer complaints in October 2026 have renewed attention on what these televisions send home and what owners can do about it.
What consumers are reporting
The Guardian, in reporting republished by AOL, collected accounts from owners frustrated with their sets' behavior. Dan, a 71-year-old in Illinois with a computer science background, said he threw a rock through his television after repeated unwanted software updates. In Connecticut, software engineer Matthew Schroyer and his partner Erin McQuiston keep their TV off the household network entirely. In British Columbia, a man identified only as James said he removed the microphone from his remote control with a craft knife. Helen Northmore, a cybersecurity worker in Wales, said she spent weeks searching for a non-connected replacement after her previous TV broke, and Tom Parsons of What Hi-Fi? told the paper that non-smart televisions remain a niche market because most buyers still want the built-in streaming features.
Separately, Al Jazeera reported that researchers at Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs, working with independent security researchers, alleged LG smart TVs could capture ambient audio from up to 12 meters (40 feet) away, including while in standby mode with the physical microphone switch off, store transcripts locally, and relay device information such as internal IP addresses, nearby Wi-Fi networks and location data from home networks. LG disputed the characterization, telling Al Jazeera that audio is processed only when a user presses the remote's voice button or says the "Hi LG" wake word after turning on far-field voice recognition, and that automatic content recognition, voice features and ad targeting are separate, opt-in settings users can disable.
What a new study found about opt-outs
Researchers tested 12 smart TVs from 10 manufacturers running eight different TV operating systems to see whether disabling tracking settings actually stopped automatic content recognition (ACR) traffic, according to a Northeastern University study reported by Ars Technica and republished by PhysicalAINews. ACR is described by ModemGuides as a Shazam-style fingerprinting technology that captures screen content at intervals, generates a compact digital fingerprint, and sends it to the manufacturer's servers so the content being watched can be identified for audience measurement and ad targeting.
Opt-out test results by TV platform
TV platform
Result after opting out
Samsung Tizen
Network traffic consistent with ACR continued in the scenarios tested
Vizio SmartCast
Network traffic consistent with ACR continued in the scenarios tested
Roku
Network traffic consistent with ACR continued in some, but not all, tested scenarios
LG webOS, Sony Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, VIDAA
No increase in suspicious traffic was found; the opt-out appeared to work in the tested scenarios
According to the reporting, the study could not confirm what data reached company servers or whether it was stored; it found only that network behavior consistent with ACR continued after the opt-out toggle was switched off on Samsung, Vizio and, in some scenarios, Roku devices.
How to limit smart TV tracking
Go into the TV's privacy menu and disable viewing-data features: on Samsung this is Settings > All Settings > General & Privacy > Terms & Privacy > Viewing Information Services; on LG it is Settings > General > System > Additional Settings (Live Plus) plus Settings > Support > Privacy & Terms; on Vizio it is Menu > Settings > Admin & Privacy > Viewing Data; on Roku it is Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience and Advertising; on Amazon Fire TV it is Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings.
It can help to recheck these toggles periodically, since menu layouts and default settings can change between software versions.
Block known ACR tracking domains at the network level using DNS filtering tools such as Pi-hole, targeting addresses such as acr0.samsungcloudsolution.com, ibs.lgappstv.com and samba.tv.
Put the TV on its own isolated network segment (a guest network or VLAN) so it cannot reach other devices even if it keeps transmitting data.
Use router firmware such as OpenWrt or pfSense, or a privacy-focused DNS resolver like Quad9 or Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1, to add an extra layer of outbound filtering.
If voice features are a concern, disable far-field voice recognition and wake-word listening in settings, or physically disconnect/remove the remote's microphone.
For the most control, keep the TV off Wi-Fi entirely and watch content through an external streaming device instead of the TV's built-in apps.
The DIY "dumb TV" trend
TechCrunch reported that some owners are using AI coding assistants to strip bloatware, ads and tracking from Android TV and Google TV devices, a practice some call "vibe coding." Open-source projects such as dumbtv, built by Muzzammil Yasin Sabuwala with Deepseek and Claude models and tested on Fire TV, Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense and Xiaomi hardware, and cleanyourtv, created by a developer identified as Gathin T., automate removal of preinstalled apps and replace default launchers over Wi-Fi. One user, Mihir Gupta, said in a post cited by TechCrunch that a single session disabled 25 bloat apps and replaced a 192-megabyte stock launcher with an 83-megabyte custom one.
A rule of the house is: don't give things the wifi password.
— Matthew Schroyer, software engineer, quoted by The Guardian/AOL
Questions
What is automatic content recognition (ACR) on a smart TV?
ACR is described as a fingerprinting technology that captures what is on screen at intervals and matches it against a database to identify the content, which manufacturers can use for audience measurement and targeted advertising, according to ModemGuides' explainer and reporting on the Northeastern University study republished by PhysicalAINews.
Does turning off tracking in the TV's settings actually stop it?
Not always. The Northeastern study found that Samsung, Vizio and, in some scenarios, Roku devices kept sending traffic consistent with ACR after users switched the setting off, while LG, Sony, Amazon Fire TV and VIDAA honored the opt-out in the tested scenarios.
Can the study prove my TV is recording and storing my viewing habits?
No. According to the reporting, the study found network traffic patterns consistent with ACR activity but did not confirm what specific data was transmitted or whether companies stored it.
What did LG say about allegations that its TVs record ambient audio?
LG told Al Jazeera that audio is only processed when a user presses the remote's voice button or uses the "Hi LG" wake word with far-field voice recognition enabled, and that ACR, voice features and ad targeting are separate settings users can turn off.
What is the "dumb TV" trend people are talking about?
It refers to owners using AI coding tools to remove ads, bloatware and tracking features from their smart TVs, following open-source projects like dumbtv and cleanyourtv, as reported by TechCrunch.
This piece was prepared with artificial intelligence and passed an automated source check before publication. If you see an error, ask for a correction. Request a correction or reply · How we make this
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