Does opting out of TV tracking work?

<figure> <img alt="The Vizio Mini LED Quantum TV displaying the Vizio OS homepage on a wooden credenza." data-caption="TVs use automatic content recognition to gather viewing information about us, and opting out doesn’t always stop it. | Photo: John Higgins / The Verge" data-portal-copyright="Photo: John Higgins / The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/268611_Vizio_Mini_LED_Quantum_TV_JHiggins_0001.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> TVs use automatic content recognition to gather viewing information about us, and opting out doesn’t always stop it. | Photo: John Higgins / The Verge </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The fact our TVs are gathering our information isn't new, but what and how they're tracking - and if we can stop it - is hard to figure out. Researchers at Northeastern University <a href="https://watchingthewatchers.github.io/watchingthewatchers/">monitored 12 TVs from 10 manufacturers to test whether opting out of automatic content recognition (ACR) actually works</a>. While opting out was effective for most TVs - including LG, Amazon Fire TV, a Sony Bravia running Google TV, and those with Vidaa OS (which can be found on TVs from Hisense, Toshiba, and smaller brands like the Supersonic used in the study) - Samsung and Roku kept sending some data. And Walmart's Vizio TV continued on as if the opt-out hadn't eve …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/1026088/northeastern-university-acr-tracking-study">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>