We are all accustomed to regular privacy scares online.
We know our web browsers track our history, social media apps build advertising profiles based on our clicks, and smart speakers listen out for wake words.
But last week, I stumbled across a post on Instagram that claimed that smart TVs are quietly taking screenshots of our displays every few seconds — even when the television is simply being used as a computer monitor.
My initial reaction was naturally skepticism.
Social media is notoriously rife with overblown tech conspiracies and unsourced paranoia. However, as someone who uses an LG smart TV mainly as a large computer monitor for daily work and computing, the claim felt deeply unsettling.
If true, it meant the private documents, code, emails, and personal projects open on my desktop were actively being captured.
I decided to dig into the background, fully expecting to debunk it.
Instead, I discovered that the post was entirely accurate.
The science behind the screen: what is ACR?
The core technology driving this tracking is called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR).
Think of it as an integrated version of Shazam (the mobile app that can identify music based on a short sample played using the microphone on the device), but designed explicitly for imagery rather than sound.
Instead of evaluating what is happening within an individual streaming app like Netflix or BBC iPlayer, ACR operates at the hardware level.
It analyses the visual pixels currently being rendered on the glass of your television, processes those visual patterns into a unique digital fingerprint, and transmits that data block back to the manufacturer’s servers to identify exactly what you are interacting with.
The peer-reviewed research behind it
The Instagram post was not quoting a conspiracy theorist; it was citing a rigorous, peer-reviewed academic paper presented at the prestigious ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2024.
The study, titled ‘Watching TV with the Second-Party: A First Look at Automatic Content Recognition Tracking in Smart TVs’, was conducted by an international team of researchers from University College London (UCL), the University of California, Davis, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).
The researchers set up controlled lab environments to intercept and inspect the data packets leaving popular smart TVs. What they verified is startling:
- LG televisions capture and upload tracking data every 15 seconds
- Samsung televisions: Capture and upload tracking data every 60 seconds
The major catch: the HDMI loophole
What makes this particularly alarming for anyone using a television as a display terminal is how ACR handles external inputs.
The researchers explicitly confirmed that this system does not care where the content originates.
Whether you are using the built-in streaming suite, watching terrestrial television, playing a game on a PlayStation, or – critically – plugging in a laptop or desktop computer over HDMI, the software continuously scans the screen.
As the authors noted in their paper:
“ACR network traffic exists when watching linear TV and when using smart TV as an external display using HDMI.”
For those of us treating our TVs as large-scale monitors, this means a structural breach of context and privacy.
A television should behave as a passive panel, displaying exactly what the computer tells it to. Instead, it acts as an active observer, taking structural snapshots of your external desktop workspace every 15 to 60 seconds.
Follow the money: why your smart TV is spying on you
Why has television hardware become so intrusive?
The answer is simple economic evolution.
The margins on manufacturing physical television sets are incredibly slim. To offset this, major tech brands have transitioned into data and advertising powerhouses.
By capturing highly granular, second-by-second viewing metrics across millions of homes, they generate vast financial streams.
For example, financial disclosures reveal that Vizio’s advertising and data arm (driven by their Inscape ACR platform) routinely generates hundreds of millions of pounds, often outstripping the actual profitability of their hardware sales.
LG’s expanding ad ecosystem similarly pulls in massive global revenues, transforming the television from a one-off retail purchase into a continuous, high-yielding data-harvesting machine.
This practice has previously drawn scrutiny; back in 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Vizio $2.2 USD million for deploying ACR retroactively without user consent, and more recently, wide-ranging legal actions have been brought by state authorities regarding the deceptive design of these built-in tracking agreements.
How to turn it off: LG configuration guide
When you initially configure a smart TV, these data collection clauses are typically pre-checked or bundled into long, dense Terms and Conditions walls that most users accept to complete setup quickly. I know I did.
Fortunately, you can dive back into your menus to disable these features.
If you own an LG television, follow these steps to switch off the tracking mechanisms:
- Open the main interface by pressing the Settings button (the cog icon) on your remote control.
- Navigate down to All Settings (or go directly to General, depending on your webOS version).
- Select System, then click into Additional Settings.
- Locate the toggle for Live Plus and switch it firmly to OFF. (This disables the primary interactive ACR processing engine).
- Return to the main settings menu, navigate to Support, select Privacy & Terms, and then open User Agreements.
- Review the individual consents and specifically deselect or opt out of Viewing Information.
- You will likely be asked to reboot your TV after this. And it will likely complain about your actions, saying that switching off these features may impact the full operation of the television. I haven’t seen any degradation in service since switching off these options.
Important maintenance note: multiple technical communities have highlighted that major system firmware updates can occasionally reset these choices or prompt you to re-accept agreements, inadvertently toggling tracking back on.
Make it a habit to quickly verify these settings every few months.
Protecting other television brands
If your household uses a system other than an LG—such as a Samsung, Sony, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV device—the underlying tracking is likely operational there too, albeit buried under alternative menu trees and disguised under marketing terms like “Viewing Information Services” or “Samba Interactive TV”.
To view the comprehensive step-by-step instructions for all other major electronics manufacturers, you can access the original breakdown on this Instagram post.
Or just unplug from the network
Alternatively, if you want a definitive fix that bypasses the software completely, the most effective solution is absolute: disconnect your television from the Wi-Fi or ethernet network entirely.
By using a dedicated, standalone external streaming box for your apps and leaving the television completely offline, you pull the plug on its ability to send data back to its corporate servers.
For those of us using our screens to work, code, or create, taking these extra minutes to safeguard our digital workspaces is well worth the effort.
Key academic and regulatory sources
Mandalari, A. M. et al. (2024) ‘Watching TV with the Second-Party: A First Look at Automatic Content Recognition Tracking in Smart TVs’, Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC ’24).
Federal Trade Commission (2017) ‘Vizio to Pay $2.2 Million to Settle FTC and NJ Attorney General Charges’, Official FTC Press Release.
