I had that same issue. The volume bar was free of ads, then the TV auto updated without telling me one day, now it had ads in the volume bar, and in the apps menu, and I think in the config area for picture and sound, too. So I went and got a few CRTs at yard sales, and a flat panel non smart TV for watching movies with.
I think LGTVs are the best in regards to this because they base their OS on an opensource linux distro called webOS, and at any point you could flash those TVs with the non proprietary open source version. This also means your remote will continue to work as well.
Also the TV never auto-updates, it always asks to update.
My TV updated without ever informing me and now I have adds in the apps tab.
This is why I keep other appliances away from the ethernet cords, and I don't have wi-fi in my house.
I had that same issue. The volume bar was free of ads, then the TV auto updated without telling me one day, now it had ads in the volume bar, and in the apps menu, and I think in the config area for picture and sound, too. So I went and got a few CRTs at yard sales, and a flat panel non smart TV for watching movies with.
I think LGTVs are the best in regards to this because they base their OS on an opensource linux distro called webOS, and at any point you could flash those TVs with the non proprietary open source version. This also means your remote will continue to work as well.
Also the TV never auto-updates, it always asks to update.