Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Court Order Stopping CCP-Aligned Smart TV Company from Spying on Texans

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a first-of-its-kind temporary restraining order (“TRO”) against Hisense—a major smart television company based in China—stopping the corporation from collecting personal data through Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology. Attorney General Paxton sued the company earlier this week, as well as four other major technology companies.

Hisense uses ACR technology to capture every sound and image playing on its TVs every 500 milliseconds without the knowledge and consent of consumers, which is an egregious and unlawful violation of Texans’ privacy. The ACR data and consumer information is then sold by the companies for a profit. The Chinese Communist Party, moreover, has access to all of the ACR data collected.

The TRO secured by Attorney General Paxton prevents Hisense from (1) collecting and (2) using, selling, sharing, disclosing, or transferring ACR data about Texans as the case continues through the courts.

“The days of Chinese tech companies spying on Americans’ televisions are over,” said Attorney General Paxton. “This TRO is a major victory for privacy rights and the movement to stop Big Tech companies from secretly watching Texans. Let this be a notice to every other company wanting to steal Americans’ data illegally that there will be consequence for their unlawful and unethical activity.”

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