Your Samsung, LG, and even Sony TV comes with notable privacy risks. Here’s how to avoid one of the biggest with only a few steps.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Smart TVs track viewing habits with ACR tech.
- Collected data fuels billions in targeted ads.
- Turning off ACR protects privacy but takes effort.
Did you know that whenever you turn on your smart TV, you invite an unseen guest to watch it with you?
These days, most mainstream TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR), a type of ad-tracking technology that collects data on everything you watch and sends it to a central database. Manufacturers then use this information to understand your viewing habits and deliver highly targeted ads.
What’s the incentive behind this invasive technology? According to market research firm eMarketer, in 2022, advertisers spent an estimated $18.6 billion on smart TV ads, and these numbers are expected to continue rising.
To understand how ACR works, imagine a constant, real-time Shazam-like service running in the background while your TV is on. It identifies content displayed on your screen, including programs from cable TV boxes, streaming services, or gaming consoles. ACR does this by capturing continuous screenshots and cross-referencing them with a vast database of media content and advertisements.
According to The Markup, ACR can capture and identify up to 7,200 images per hour, or approximately two images every second. This extensive tracking provides valuable insights for marketers and content distributors, as it reveals connections between viewers’ personal information and their preferred content. By “personal information,” I mean email addresses, IP addresses — and even your physical street address.
By understanding what viewers watch and engage with, marketers can make decisions on content recommendations to create bespoke advertising placements. They can also track advertisements that lead to purchases.
But the most disturbing part is the potential for exploitation. In the wrong hands, sensitive information gathered through ACR could be exploited or misused, potentially resulting in security risks or, in extreme cases, identity theft.
Because ACR operates clandestinely in the background, many of us aren’t even aware of its active presence each time we’re enjoying our favourite shows. Opting out of using ACR is complex and sometimes challenging. Navigating through your TV settings might take several dozen clicks to protect your privacy better.
If you, like me, perceive this feature as intrusive or unsettling, there’s a way to disable this data collection feature on your smart TV. It may take some patience, but below is a How-To list for five major brands that demonstrates how to turn off ACR.
How to turn off ACR on a smart TV
For Samsung TVs…
- Press the Home button on your remote control.
- Navigate to the left to access the sidebar menu.
- In the sidebar menu, choose the Privacy Choices option.
- Select the Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy option.
- Ensure that the checkbox for Viewing Information Services is unchecked. This will turn off ACR and any associated ad targeting.
- Select the OK option at the bottom of the screen to confirm your changes.
For an LG TV…
- Press the Home button on your remote control to access the home screen.
- Press the Settings button on your remote.
- In the settings side menu, select the Settings option.
- Navigate to and select the General option.
- In the General menu, choose System.
- Select Additional Settings.
- In Additional Settings, locate and toggle off the Live Plus option.
LG further allows you to limit ad tracking, which can be found in Additional Settings.
- In the Additional Settings menu, select Advertisement.
- Toggle on the Limit AD Tracking option.
You can also turn off home promotions and content recommendations:
- In the Additional Settings menu, select Home Settings.
- Uncheck the Home Promotion option.
- Uncheck the Content Recommendation option.
Feature image credit: Kerry Wan/ZDNET