LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices

A newly released 135-minute-long video by Gamers Nexus exposes concerns over LG smart TVs continuously monitoring home networks, mapping secondary devices, and recording microphone audio while seemingly turned off. Researchers from Level1Techs collaborated with Gamers Nexus to test LG OLED models, such as the G5. The tests revealed the TVs actively scanning the local area network for unrelated devices like phones and smartwatches.

They also gathered names, signal strengths, and location data of neighboring Wi-Fi networks, feeding this information into LG Ad Solutions, the company's targeted advertising division. With approximately 216 million smart TV sales worldwide, LG's ad division claims access to 363 million secondary addressable devices in the US through tracking other hardware on the same network.

The smart TVs also employ Automated Content Recognition (ACR), which takes samples of on-screen audio and video to create digital fingerprints, tracking what users watch across inputs. Beyond ACR, tests uncovered the TVs capturing clear microphone audio even when the screen was, or at least appeared, powered down in standby mode.

This persisted even when the TV was disconnected from Ethernet, with the device saving voice input locally and uploading the files once the network connection was re-established. The researchers also documented remote code execution vulnerabilities in webOS, currently moving through the responsible disclosure process. Given the widespread network listeners and data sweeping capabilities of the TVs, the team recommended disconnecting LG sets from the internet and using external streaming devices instead. As of now, LG has not commented on these findings.