Is Your Smart TV Watching You? ACR Tracking and the Settings to Change
Most smart TVs sold in Australia can quietly log what is on your screen and use it to build an advertising profile. The technology is called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), it is switched on by default on most sets, and you can turn it off in a few minutes. This guide explains what ACR actually does, what it collects and why, and the exact opt-out setting on each of the four platforms sold here: Samsung's Tizen, LG's webOS, Hisense's VIDAA, and Google TV (TCL, Sony and others).
First, an important clarification: this is not a camera or microphone spying story. ACR reads what is being displayed, not the room you are sitting in. It is viewing data, it is disclosed in the privacy policy you agree to at setup, and it is opt-out-able. Here is how.
What ACR actually is
Automatic Content Recognition works by sampling the picture on screen and matching it against a reference database to identify what you are watching. It takes small snapshots or audio fingerprints, often several times a second, and compares them to a catalogue of shows, ads, films and games.
The important part for privacy is that ACR does not care where the content comes from. It can identify:
- Free-to-air broadcast and BVOD (ABC iview, 7plus, 9Now and so on)
- Streaming apps (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Stan)
- Anything on an HDMI input: a set-top box, a Blu-ray or DVD player, a games console
- Ads, including which ads you saw and skipped
Because it works off the panel itself, ACR sees content the individual apps and the TV maker would otherwise have no visibility of, including whatever you plug in over HDMI. If you want the background on how these "smart" layers sit on top of the hardware, our guide to what an AI TV really is covers how the software and data features are bundled in.
What gets collected, and why
The data is a viewing history: a timeline of what appeared on your screen and when. Manufacturers use it to build an audience profile and to sell or share that profile with advertisers and measurement partners. Two things come out of it:
- Targeted advertising, both on the TV's own home screen and rows, and matched to your other devices through advertising IDs.
- Aggregated audience measurement sold to advertisers and broadcasters (who watched what, across which apps and inputs).
Manufacturers rarely call it "tracking" in the menus. You will see softer framing like "Viewing Information Services", "smart interactivity", "content recommendations" or "personalised advertising". That framing is the tell that ACR or ad personalisation is involved.
Where Australia sits on this
ACR is legal in Australia and is covered by the privacy policy and terms you accept during setup. Collection and use of personal information is governed by the Privacy Act 1988 and its 13 Australian Privacy Principles, overseen by the OAIC. The ACCC has separately flagged smart TV and connected-device data practices as an area of concern through its Digital Platform Services Inquiry, and Australian researchers have written publicly about ACR being used to monetise viewing data.
None of that means your TV is doing anything unlawful. It means the collection is happening under consent you likely clicked through at setup, and that you are entitled to withdraw it. Turning ACR off is the practical way to do that.
The exact opt-out, by platform
Menu wording and paths shift with model year and software version, so treat the names below as the anchor and the path as a strong guide. If a label is not exactly where described, look for the same-named setting under the TV's privacy, terms or additional-settings menus. Where things genuinely vary by brand, this guide says so rather than inventing a false-precise click path. For a broader look at how these systems differ, see our smart TV operating systems compared guide.
Samsung (Tizen)
Samsung's ACR toggle is called Viewing Information Services.
- On most sets: Home, then Settings > Support > Terms & Privacy > Privacy Choices, and turn off Viewing Information Services.
- On some models the path is Settings > General & Privacy > Terms & Privacy.
While you are in there, also decline the Interest-Based Advertisements (ad personalisation) agreement to stop the profile being used for targeted ads. Note that Samsung reorganised these menus under a "Privacy Choices" grouping on 2024 and newer Tizen models, so the exact route differs a little between older and newer TVs.
LG (webOS)
LG's ACR feature is branded Live Plus. Turning that off is the main step.
- Open Settings (the gear icon) > All Settings > General > System > Additional Settings, then switch Live Plus to Off. On older webOS versions it sits directly under General > Additional Settings.
Then tighten the ad side:
- In the same Additional Settings area, open Advertising and turn on Limit Ad Tracking.
- Under Home Settings, you can also turn off Home Promotion and Content Recommendation to cut personalised rows on the home screen.
Hisense (VIDAA)
Hisense sets run VIDAA (some Toshiba and other brands do too). The wording here varies more than any other platform, so match the setting by name.
- Look under Settings > System > Privacy for Viewing Information Services (sometimes labelled around "Smart TV Experience") and turn it off.
- On newer VIDAA versions the equivalent may appear as Viewing Data within the System menu.
- You can also withdraw the underlying consents via Settings > Support > User Agreements.
If your Hisense is not a VIDAA set but instead runs Google TV or Roku, use the matching platform steps rather than these. Our VIDAA browse and explainer page covers which Hisense models use it.
Google TV (TCL, Sony and others)
Google TV works differently here. The Google TV platform itself does not run ACR to identify your content the way Samsung and LG do. On a Google TV set, the viewing-data collection comes from two other places: Google's own advertising and account data, and the panel maker's own analytics or ACR layer added on top. So there are two things to switch off, and the second one depends on the brand.
Google's side (same on any Google TV set):
- Settings > Privacy > Ads, and turn off Ad personalisation (you can also reset the advertising ID here).
- Under Settings > Privacy, review Usage & diagnostics and turn it off if you would rather not send diagnostic data.
The manufacturer's own layer (varies by brand):
- Sony uses Samba TV for ACR, shown as Samba Interactive TV (or Samba TV). Look under Settings > System or Settings > Privacy and turn it off. Sony also exposes several data toggles inside its Bravia privacy policy at setup.
- TCL and other Google TV brands add their own analytics or ACR consent, usually presented during initial setup and again somewhere under the privacy menu. Because the exact toggle depends on the brand's software layer, the reliable move is to open the TV's privacy settings and decline any manufacturer viewing-data or "smart" analytics consent you find there.
If you are weighing up a Google TV set, our Google TV browse page lists the current models and prices we track.
Good practice on any smart TV
The platform steps above cover the specific ACR toggles. These habits apply to any set:
- Read the consents at setup instead of clicking Agree. The data-sharing agreements are almost always separate optional toggles, off which you can decline while still keeping the TV working.
- Decline the "additional" or "extra" data consents. The core terms make the TV run; the extra ones are usually about advertising and analytics.
- Limit ad tracking / reset the advertising ID wherever the platform offers it.
- If you use an external streamer (Apple TV, a dedicated stick, a games console), you can run the TV without connecting it to wi-fi at all. A TV that is offline cannot phone viewing data home, and your streamer handles the apps.
What turning it off does, and does not do
Switching off ACR stops the viewing-data collection and the personalised ads built from it. You keep every app, every input and all the normal TV functions. Nothing about picture quality or streaming changes.
What you may notice: recommendation rows on the home screen become more generic, since the TV no longer profiles what you watch to tailor them. Some sets will still show ads on the home screen, just not ones targeted from your viewing history. That is the trade most people are happy to make, and it is fully reversible if you change your mind.
If privacy is high on your list when choosing your next set, it is worth comparing how each platform handles it before you buy. Start with our smart TV buying overview and the operating systems compared guide.