Your smart TV could become a spy for the AI industry in 2026.
Have you ever wondered why Smart TV are getting cheaper every year? The answer isn't just lower manufacturing costs it’s because your viewing data has become more valuable than the hardware itself. In 2026, the peak of the AI era, every second you spend in front of the screen has turned into a "gold mine" for tech giants.
The Rise of "TV Crawlers": Your Bandwidth for AI Training
A shocking report in February 2026 revealed that Bright Data, a major data collection firm, has introduced a controversial business model for app developers on Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s webOS. Instead of charging subscription fees, these apps embed code that transforms your Smart TV into a Web Crawler.
While your TV is in standby or idling, it stealthily utilizes your home internet and processing power to "scrape" data from websites across the globe. This data is then sold to AI companies to train Large Language Models (LLMs), often without the user receiving a single cent of compensation.
ACR: The Pixel-Level Spy
Automated Content Recognition (ACR) has become the center of a massive legal firestorm. This technology captures screenshots or analyzes screen pixels every 500 milliseconds (0.5 seconds).
Universal Surveillance: It doesn't matter if you are watching cable, playing games via HDMI, or streaming Netflix ACR tracks it all.
The Goal: This data is sent back to servers to analyze your brand preferences and lifestyle, enabling hyper-targeted advertisements that follow you across all your devices.
The Texas Lawsuit: A Fight for Privacy
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently filed a landmark lawsuit against five major TV manufacturers: Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense, and TCL. The lawsuit alleges gross violations of privacy, claiming these companies bury ACR settings deep within menus and use deceptive language to trick users into consenting.
Furthermore, geopolitical concerns have escalated. Brands like Hisense and TCL are facing increased scrutiny regarding data security and their potential ties to international intelligence frameworks, raising fears that household data could be accessed by foreign entities.
By 2026, many TV manufacturers will be selling at a loss (loss leader), or with minimal profit, because revenue from data licensing and advertising is 2-3 times higher than TV sales over its lifespan.
Samsung claims its collaboration with Gracenote uses AI for personalization to help users find movies faster, but conversely, it's the most detailed granular behavioral profiling ever done.
The surreptitious operation of web crawlers, sending image data every 0.5 seconds, increases power consumption in Smart TVs, even in standby mode, potentially impacting annual electricity costs without consumers realizing it.
Startups are beginning to produce "privacy-first" TVs (similar to specialized smartphones) that eliminate all data connectivity, but their prices are several times higher than regular TVs, reflecting the idea that "privacy is becoming a luxury product."
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Source: The Verge
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