'It's extremely creepy': LG TVs collect far more data on you than you'd expect, says new report, including logging microphone audio while on standby and detecting your wireless devices including phones and smartwatches and users are furious

Date:
Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:41:38 +0000

Description:
A new investigation says that LG TVs collect and transmit much more information than customers might expect.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter LG TVs reportedly monitor your entire home, not just your viewing The report says TVs can capture audio when the screen's off Invasive monitoring may be widespread across manufacturers
LG is at the center of another online privacy storm focusing on its smart
TVs. A new investigation by Gamers Nexus and independent security
researchers, detailed in full in 135-minute YouTube embedded below, says that LG TVs are tracking "everybody in the household" even when the TVs appear to be off, or unplugged from your local network. And they're looking at your other devices too.

The result, Gamers Nexus says, is "216,000,000 Spy TVs" reporting on millions of other devices in the US alone. The report comes just over a month after LG was accused of installing adware on PCs and recording guests in your home , claims that LG refuted in a statement. However, this new report could be even more damaging because LG's own marketing pitch to businesses says that "we know who's in the LG household. We know which devices are there. We know what you're exposed to on TV and we know how to extend that reach into mobile." Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

The Gamers Nexus video features clips of three separate LG executives saying either "We own the glass", "we own the TV", or both. 216,000,000 Spy TVs |
The LG Smart TV Problem - YouTube Watch On What does "we own the glass" mean? The "we own the glass" is a pitch to advertising buyers, and it's based on ACR, aka Automatic Content Recognition. That's the controversial system that analyzes what you watch on TV irrespective of what app or service you use, collating that data to be used for personalized marketing. You may like LG's gaming monitors and TVs are facing a user revolt due to new adware and
privacy policies Here's how you stop LG monitors that are reportedly installing bloatware The best LG TVs, all tested by our reviewers

Gamers Nexus says that LG TVs gather much more than viewing data, including voice recordings, details of other local devices, geographical location and details of nearby wireless networks.

LG's sales pitch is that LG advertising can give marketers the big picture of everything you and I do on our TVs and extend advertising from the LG TV to other devices, such as our phones: "within an LG household, we can help
extend [an advertising] campaign footprint to the other devices in the household." Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up
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It's a very long and detailed video, but the key claims here are that LG TVs' advertising functionality goes much further than you might know or expect,
and that it goes so far and gathers so much data that it becomes "intrusive and grotesque".

And as Gamers Nexus note at the end of the video, they're certain that other manufacturers are doing much the same. "If you want Flock cameras on your living room wall, this is how you get Flock cameras on your living room
wall," they say.

The online reaction so far is primarily outrage: writing on r/gadgets ,
grahag says: "Every appliance in my house is an LG... I will never buy an LG product again" while BirnirG says "I hope nobody will buy their products
after this... if I buy your product I own it, they don't 'own the glass' or anything any more." Another Redditor summed it up as simply as "It's
extremely creepy."

As we've noted before, TV margins are very tight and manufacturers are increasingly turning to advertising in order to bring in more money. But
there are growing concerns that firms are not doing this with customers' consent, and that changes to data use are buried in new versions of the T&Cs or privacy policies that nobody ever reads.

We have, of course, approached LG for comment and we'll keep you updated. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/televisions/lg-tvs-collect-far-more-data-on-you-than -youd-expect-says-new-report-including-logging-microphone-audio-while-on-stand by


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