Texas Border Business
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a settlement with LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. (“LG”) to protect Texans from unlawful privacy violations involving smart television technology. Under the agreement, LG will no longer use Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology to collect consumers’ viewing data without their informed consent. This settlement follows Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit against the company.
The agreement requires LG to update its smart TVs to display a pop-up disclosure that explains how viewing data may be collected and used. Additionally, this disclosure will now be included on LG’s website. Users will be given a clear and simple way to opt out of any viewing data collection agreements. These changes include LG’s agreement to prohibit Viewing Data transfers in any form to the Chinese Communist Party and will help prevent Texans’ data from being unlawfully collected through ACR technology or transferred without users’ knowledge or consent.
“LG has now taken important steps to ensure that users’ viewing data will not be collected without their informed consent and that consumers maintain their fundamental right to privacy in their own homes,” said Attorney General Paxton. “No electronics company should be collecting consumers’ data and exposing Texans to potential surveillance by the Chinese government. I am pleased to see that after my office took action, smart TV companies are doing what is necessary to protect Texans. I will continue to work to aggressively hold other smart TV companies accountable for unlawfully using ACR technology to put consumers at risk.”
This legal victory builds upon Attorney General Paxton’s previous settlement with Samsung. This agreement is a product of the Office of the Attorney General’s wide-sweeping action against television companies to ensure Texans are safe from being monitored in their own homes. Cases against Sony and Hisense and TCL Technology, the latter two of which are based in China, remain ongoing.
To read the Agreed Final Judgement, click here.
