Surveillance

Joe Lancaster | 2.10.2026 12:25 PM

This year, companies paid $8 million or more for each 30-second commercial that aired during the Super Bowl broadcast.

In one ad, Ring—the Amazon-owned maker of video doorbells and security lights—touted a new family-friendly feature that some viewers worry could be used by police or even immigration enforcement.

"Pets are family," Ring founder Jamie Siminoff says in the commercial. "But every year, 10 million go missing, and the way we look for them hasn't changed in years—until now."

The ad introduces Search Party, a feature in which users can upload a picture of their lost dog, and Ring cameras will use AI to search for the animal—like doggy facial recognition. "Since launch, more than a dog a day has been reunited with their family," Siminoff bragged.

Not everybody was thrilled with this new functionality; some viewers worried about its potential use by law enforcement.

In a viral X post, one user characterized the ad's message as, "10 million dogs go missing every year, help us find 365 of them by soft launching the total surveillance state." Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute quipped that Ring should instead have called its dog........

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