An investigation by the Gamers Nexus channel, conducted with Level1Techs and security specialists and published on September 8, documents that LG televisions can record audio through their microphone and scan the home Wi-Fi network while in standby mode. The Verge reports that the tests were performed on retail LG OLED televisions.
The channel estimates the installed fleet at 216 million televisions and presented its findings in a 135-minute video. TechRadar details that the devices log location data, nearby devices such as phones and watches, and surrounding Wi-Fi networks, then transmit that information to LG Ad Solutions, the brand's advertising unit, which tells advertisers it knows who lives in each LG household and what appears on the screen. In testing, standby recording continued even when the television was disconnected from the network: audio files were stored locally and uploaded once the connection was restored. For households in Mexico, the United States, and Canada with an LG set in the living room, the practical question is what the device does with what it hears and how that collection can be limited.
At the center of the findings is Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), the technology that identifies what is on screen by sampling audio and video, regardless of whether the content arrives through the TV's own app or an HDMI input. ACR is not unique to LG: The Verge cites a new video by RTINGS in which nearly every smart TV manufacturer is said to use ACR to track what their customers watch. Nor is this the channel's first criticism of the company: in July it documented that certain LG monitors were installing an application that collected device data and displayed pop-up advertisements, until LG disabled those alerts following the public attention.
TechRadar asked LG for its position on the report and, as of this edition's deadline, the company had not responded. That response is the next data point in a story that affects anyone with a smart TV at home.
This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.