Check Your TV: If it’s Chinese-Made, it Could Be Spying on You

A class action lawsuit alleges that the Chinese Communist Party could be spying on millions of Americans through their own televisions.

Attorneys from the firm Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise (“Peiffer Wolf”) filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Northern District of California against Hisense USA, which is the “U.S. operating arm” of Hisense Group Holdings, a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer, according to the May 12 lawsuit.

Embedded in Hisense’s smart TVs “which sit in millions of American living rooms” is automated content recognition (ACR) technology, according to the lawsuit. ACR helps Hisense’s devices “capture every sound and image displayed on the screen as often as every 500 milliseconds.”

The devices distribute this data to “Hisense’s Chinese parents and affiliates, which are subject to Chinese law compelling them to share that data with the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party on demand,” the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs, who