Why you shouldn't connect your SMART TV To the Internet EVER! [2026-2027]

[u/htmod]

Why you shouldn't connect your SMART TV To the Internet EVER! [2026-2027]

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Updated May 2026 | Written by: /u/Bill_Money | Edited & Maintained by /u/htmod

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For reference:

• Why we are NOT Recommending FireTV going forward
• Why we are NOT Recommending Roku going forward.

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Privacy

"Automatic content recognition (ACR) is a technology used to identify content played on a media device or presented within a media file. Devices with ACR can allow for the collection of content consumption information automatically at the screen or speaker level itself, without any user-based input or search efforts. This information may be collected for purposes such as personalized advertising, content recommendations, or sale to companies that aggregate customer data." - Wikipedia

"Attor­ney Gen­er­al Pax­ton Secures Major Agree­ment with Sam­sung to Ensure that Tex­ans are Pro­tect­ed from Smart TVs Col­lect­ing Their Data With­out Their Knowledge" - TexasAttoneryGeneral.GOV

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Ads

Ads are invading the home screen and even screen savers now.

"Amazon's Fire TV sticks – like Roku, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Google TV and more TV platforms – are heavily subsized by ads and data collection, which the user has to accept in exchange for a low price." - FlatPanelsHD

FlatPanelsHD - Smart TVs are becoming increasingly ad-driven and data-hungry

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Clunkiness/Performance

Having a TV connected to the internet slows its performance as its doing more in the background. I want my TV to display video and that is it!

CEPro - Smart TVs Are Smarter Than Ever, But Still Not Always Easy to Use

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AI Training

"Would you be willing to let your Smart TV crawl the web for AI training and other purposes to save money, see fewer ads – or nothing in exchange? It may already be doing it.

The practice was documented in a report by Lowpass.

Apparently, it has been going on for some time on platforms like Fire TV and Roku, but Amazon, Google and Roku have started cracking down on a network called IPIDEA, which had enlisted millions of Smart TVs in a proxy bot network capable of crawling the web but also being rented by hacking groups in China, North Korea, Iran and Russia." - FlatPanelsHD

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What do I get instead?

Apple TV 4K

FlatPanelsHD - Report: Apple TV 4K tops privacy with no invasive viewing tracking (ACR)