Vizio Smart TV Tracking: The FTC Viewing-Data Settlement

The FTC said the TVs recorded what was on screen, second by second, and the data was sold.

By Siddharth ShankarUpdated October 23, 2026

A television used to be a screen. A smart TV is also a computer connected to the internet, and some models can report what you watch. This guide explains the FTC’s case against Vizio, using the FTC’s own announcement.

What was announced

The FTC and the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General announced the settlement on February 6, 2017. Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million in total. The agencies alleged the software at issue was installed on 11 million consumer TVs, and the complaint says manufacturing of these TVs began in February 2014. The complaint and a stipulated order were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the Commission voted 3-0.

What the agencies said was collected

According to the FTC:

• The TVs captured second-by-second information about the video displayed. That included programmes from cable, broadband, set-top boxes, DVDs, over-the-air broadcasts and streaming devices.
• Demographic information was appended to the viewing data, such as sex, age, income, marital status, household size, education level, home ownership and household value.
• Vizio sold the data to third parties, who used it for purposes including cross-device ad targeting.

The consent problem

The FTC alleged that Vizio promoted a “Smart Interactivity” feature that “enables program offers and suggestions”, but did not tell consumers that the same settings also turned on viewing-data collection. The complaint alleges the tracking happened without informed consent and was unfair and deceptive under the FTC Act and New Jersey consumer protection law. These are allegations that were resolved by a settlement.

What the order requires

The stipulated order requires Vizio to:

• clearly disclose its data collection and sharing and obtain affirmative express consent;
• not misrepresent the privacy, security or confidentiality of consumer information it collects;
• delete data collected before March 1, 2016;
• put in place a comprehensive data privacy program with biennial assessments.

Why this matters now

The case is from 2017, but the practice it describes, often called automatic content recognition, is a general feature of connected televisions. Whether your TV does this depends on the make, the model and your settings. The lesson is that a device you buy once can keep sending information about your habits for years.

What you can do

1. Look through the TV’s privacy and terms screens during set-up. Choose the options that limit data collection.
2. Find the viewing-data or personalised-ads setting in the menu and turn it off if you do not want it. Names vary by brand.
3. Review voice and microphone features and disable ones you do not use.
4. Keep the TV’s software updated from the manufacturer.
5. Think about network separation. If your router supports a guest network, putting smart devices there keeps them apart from your computers and phones.
6. Remove the device from your account before you sell or give it away, and reset it to factory settings.

The wider advertising picture

Viewing data is one input to the profiles that brokers build. Our guide on what data brokers are explains how such data travels, and app tracking on iPhone and resetting your Android advertising ID cover phones. For a similar FTC action on location data, read the X-Mode order.

Signals you can send

In some places you can tell websites not to sell or share your data with a browser signal. See how to turn on Global Privacy Control. It will not control a TV, but it is one more way to limit tracking.