Turn Off ACR: Samsung vs LG, One Is Easier

Samsung or LG: if you want to turn off ACR, the set that keeps it behind a single switch is the Samsung, and that is the answer this piece defends. ACR, automatic content recognition, is the feature that identifies what is on your screen and reports it back. Both brands ship it. Both were sued over it in Texas. But on a Samsung you hunt for one setting, while LG spreads the same job across two different menus with two different names.

Is my smart TV taking screenshots of what I watch?

Yes, if ACR is switched on, according to the Texas Attorney General, whose December 15, 2025 release says the software can capture screenshots of a user's television display every 500 milliseconds. That is two frames a second. Do the sum: multiply the hourly figure in the grid below by the hours your TV is on tonight. A three-hour evening comes to 21,600 possible captures.

The old advice to use the TV as a dumb screen for a console is out of date. CyberInsider's December 19, 2025 summary of the complaints says the makers also collected data from HDMI-connected devices, game consoles and cable boxes among them. Never opening the built-in apps protects nothing. Our explainer on how smart TVs track what you watch with ACR covers the matching, and that profile feeds the advertising in your new smart TV sells ads before you watch anything.

Four numbers frame the legal side, and none lets either brand off the hook. The Attorney General's December release named Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL. CyberInsider reported that the state seeks civil penalties in each case under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Hoodline reported on January 7, 2026 that a Collin County order barring Samsung from using Texans' ACR data was vacated almost at once. The hourly count is our own arithmetic, not a filing's.

The court order is the part people misremember. It was set aside, and a fresh application was denied on January 9. What changed Samsung's practice was an agreement, announced on February 26, 2026, requiring Texas consumers' express consent before any ACR collection.

How do I turn off ACR on a Samsung or LG TV?

On a Samsung, open Settings, then Support, Terms & Privacy and Privacy Choices, and switch off Viewing Information Services; on an LG, switch off Live Plus and decline the viewing agreement under User Agreements. The paths come from Malwarebytes' March 2, 2026 guide and Tom's Guide's January 30, 2026 walkthrough, which warn that names shift by model year. Samsung's own support page says only that ACR can be switched off in Settings at any time.

LG's second stop is official. Its support library, in a page dated September 2026, sends owners to Settings, Privacy & Terms, User Agreements, where optional agreements cover what you watch, voice features and personalised ads. Live Plus sits elsewhere, under Additional Settings. So that is two switches. Well, one switch and one agreement, which look nothing alike. LG's updated terms took effect on August 28, 2026; if your set asked you to accept something since, that screen was the consent.

Read the table by row; each answers a question you would ask with the remote in hand.

If you read one row, read the fifth: a buyer in Ohio or California should assume nothing changed. Whether the Texas consent screens quietly spread nationwide is the open question. Our guess is that a maker would rather ship one firmware than fifty, but a guess is not a setting.

Where both opt-outs still fall short

Both opt-outs still depend on you finding a setting whose name and location change between model years, and neither Texas agreement, as announced, protects a buyer in another state. The settlements make LG's split menu harder to excuse. The Attorney General's May 11, 2026 release says LG must give users a clear and simple way to opt out. Two menus under two names is not simple.

Samsung is not spotless either: older menus differ from recent sets. And ACR is only one way a TV profiles you; the home screen is itself an ad slot, which is why we compared which home screen shows you fewer ads, Roku or Google TV.

• Switching ACR off does not remove home-screen ads; it changes what they can be based on.
• LG's support page says its terms-update notice cannot be disabled and stops only once you respond, so answer it deliberately.
• Clicking agree at setup is the consent the makers rely on, and you can withdraw it in Settings whenever you like.

Samsung is the easier opt-out: one setting, one menu, done. LG can be just as quiet, but only if you make both stops every time it asks you to agree to something new. This week, before your next evening of television, open Settings and switch the viewing-data setting off.