A federal class-action lawsuit filed in California accuses electronics manufacturer Hisense USA Corporation of tracking the viewing habits of millions of Americans through its Smart TVs and sending that data to its state-owned parent company in China.
The lawsuit, filed on May 12, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claims that Hisense utilizes Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to capture images and audio from television screens as often as every 500 milliseconds.
According to the complaint, this tracking occurs across all television inputs, meaning the devices monitor content from streaming applications, cable television, gaming consoles, and personal computers connected via HDMI.
The legal action follows a previous petition filed on December 15, 2025, by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who obtained a temporary restraining order against Hisense. In that case, the Texas Attorney General alleged that the televisions function as “mass surveillance systems” and stated that “the Chinese Communist Party has access to all of the ACR data collected.”
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According to the California federal complaint, Hisense USA is the domestic operating arm of Hisense Group Holdings Co., Ltd., which is headquartered in Qingdao, China, and majority-owned by Chinese government entities. The lawsuit emphasizes that under Article 7 of the People’s Republic of China National Intelligence Law, Chinese organizations are legally compelled to support and cooperate with state intelligence work upon request.
The plaintiffs argue that the data collection violates a federal regulation known as the Bulk Sensitive Data Transfer Rule (28 C.F.R. Part 202), which went into effect on April 8, 2025. This Department of Justice rule restricts United States entities from transferring bulk sensitive personal data—including IP addresses, device identifiers, and behavioral data—to specific “countries of concern,” including China.
The lawsuit states that the tracked information is linked to household identifiers to build cross-device profiles, which are then distributed to a network of downstream advertising, data broker, and analytics partners. These partners include Hisense’s operating-system subsidiary VIDAA USA, Inc., as well as Nexxen International Ltd., Roku, Inc., Amazon, and Alphonso, Inc.
The five named plaintiffs in the lawsuit—Stacee Severino, Jill Cohen, Kenney Reese, Shari Etchebarren, and Brandy Minner—allege that Hisense uses deceptive terminology such as “Enhanced Viewing Service” and “dark pattern” interface designs to obtain user consent during initial device setup.
The complaint states that the data collection includes sensitive user details, such as political preferences, religious practices, and household demographics.
The plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class of affected consumers, as well as California subclasses. The lawsuit brings 14 distinct claims against Hisense, including violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act, the Federal Wiretap Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, and the California Unfair Competition Law, alongside claims of negligence and breach of implied contract. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and statutory damages, as well as an injunction to halt the data collection.
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