United States of America: District Court granted temporary restraining order prohibiting Samsung Electronics from collecting data through automatic content recognition technology

On 5 January 2026, the District Court of Collin County, Texas granted the Texas Attorney General's request for a temporary restraining order against Samsung Electronics. The lawsuit concerns the deployment of Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology in Samsung Smart TVs to capture and monetise viewing behaviour across applications, broadcast content, and connected devices. The District Court found that there was good cause to believe that Samsung was engaging in false, misleading or deceptive practices in relation to the data collection practices of its Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology and thus prohibited the collection and use, sale, transfer, disclosure, and sharing of ACR data relating to Texas consumers until 19 January 2026, subject to possible further extension.