Another Class Action Takes Issue with Vizio's 'Spying' Smart TVs

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A California man claims in a proposed class action lawsuit that Vizio’s controversial Smart TVs spy on consumers via secretly installed software and then send collected data to third parties for targeted advertisement purposes.

“Vizio collects highly specific data about consumers’ viewing histories and preferences through invasive software secretly installed on millions of its Smart TVs,” the 40-page complaint alleges. “It then discloses this data to advertisers and media content providers so they can deliver targeted advertisements.”

It doesn’t end with just televisions, the lawsuit argues. Defendants Vizio, Inc., Vizio Holdings, Inc. Vizio Inscape Technologies, LLC and Vizio Inscape Services, LLC also allegedly play a part in sending the aforementioned targeted ads to any device that shares the same WiFi connection as a consumer’s Smart TV, with a familiar motivating factor behind this conduct.

“Monetizing consumer data is a critical part of Vizio’s plan,” the lawsuit scathes. “The television market is saturated and highly competitive. Vizio’s growth strategy hinges not only on sales of its Smart TVs, but also on its ability to profit from the collection and disclosure of a rich portfolio of consumer data, including personal viewing histories and preferences, among other information.”

A step further, Vizio allegedly makes it very difficult for consumers to turn off its spying televisions’ Smart Interactivity. Even if consumers discovered their data was being collected without consent, the process by which they could opt-out of Vizio’s data collection was not operational during much of the relevant time period cited in the complaint.

The bottom line, the plaintiff argues, is that Vizio allegedly blatantly and flagrantly lied to consumers:

“Vizio knows advertisers and data brokers can and do connect these dots. And yet Vizio falsely and deceptively tells consumers that the information it discloses along with viewing habits cannot be traced back to them. For instance, it characterizes the information it discloses as ‘non-personal’ or ‘anonymous’ information even though it uniquely identifies individuals and their viewing habits.”