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 believe Hisense violated their privacy rights by allegedly tracking and sharing their viewing history and behavior, seek an injunction that would prevent the continuation of such practices, The Center Square reported Sunday. They are also seeking a potentially large payout, which could include an unspecified amount of both monetary and punitive damages from Hisense.
“What has been most surprising is the scope of the alleged conduct. This is not simply a case about targeted advertising,” Peiffer Wolf attorney Brandon Wise told Daily Caller News Foundation in a Monday statement. “The Complaint alleges that Hisense Smart TVs operate as in-home surveillance devices, using automatic content recognition technology to capture what consumers watch, connect that data to persistent household and device identifiers, and distribute that information through a broader ad-tech and data-broker ecosystem.”
“Even more troubling, the Complaint alleges that Hisense is ultimately tied to a Chinese state-owned enterprise and that this sensitive U.S. consumer data may be transferred to, or accessed by, entities subject to Chinese law,” he continued. “Our clients filed this case to stop those practices and to obtain relief for consumers whose private viewing information was allegedly collected and monetized without meaningful notice or consent. We intend to litigate the case vigorously.”
While not all of their devices are fully manufactured in China, Hisense Group Holdings is a state-owned enterprise of the Chinese government. Hisense did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Peiffer Wolf is a New Orleans-based litigation firm which handles cases related to data breach claims and alleged securities fraud, among other areas of law, according to its website.
This is not the first time Hisense has been sued for allegedly spying on Americans. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Hisense and four other TV companies for their use of ACR technology to discretely collect and share sensitive personal data, Legal Newsline reported in December 2025.
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