When consumers first boot up a Samsung Smart TV, they must “click through a multi-page onboarding flow before arriving at a consent screen entitled Smart Hub Terms and Conditions,” according to the lawsuit. “When consumers finally reach the consent screen, they will see four messages: Terms and Conditions: Dispute Resolution Agreement, Smart Hub US Policy Notice, View Information Services, and Interest-Based Ads Service US Privacy Statement, with just one button prominently displayed: I agree to everything.”
Deceptive business practices alleged
It would be unreasonable to expect consumers to understand that Samsung TVs are equipped with surveillance capabilities, the lawsuit said. “Most consumers do not know, and have no reason to suspect, that Samsung Smart TVs capture the audio and images displayed on the screen in real time and use the information to profile them to advertisers,” the report said.
Paxton alleges that TV companies violated the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act with misrepresentations about the collection of personal information and failure to disclose the use of ACR technology. The lawsuit against Hisense also alleges that it failed to disclose that it might provide the Chinese government with consumers' personal data.
Hisense “fails to disclose to Texas Consumers that Hisense is required under Chinese law to transfer its Texas consumer data collections to the People's Republic of China upon the People's Republic of China's request,” the lawsuit said.
The TCL lawsuit does not include that specific charge. But both the Hisense and TCL complaints say the Chinese Communist Party could use ACR data from the companies' smart TVs “to influence or compromise public figures in Texas, including judges, elected officials and law enforcement officers, and for corporate espionage by monitoring those working in critical infrastructure, as part of the CCP's long-term plan to destabilize and undermine American democracy.”
The televisions “are essentially Chinese-sponsored surveillance devices that record the viewing habits of Texans at any time without their knowledge or consent,” the lawsuits say.
