Vizio's 2026 TV Ties Streaming Apps to Data Monitoring

Vizio's 2026 Mini LED TVs force a binary choice at setup: accept activity tracking to use the smart OS and streaming apps, or disable the OS entirely and use only passive display mode. External streamers bypass this—Vizio and Walmart can infer content by scanning HDMI inputs unless the smart OS is completely disabled. The approach echoes Vizio's 2017 unauthorized data collection settlement, though users now have an explicit opt-out.