Your LG TV Could Be Listening To You – Even When It's Turned Off

A YouTube channel called Gamers Nexus has unveiled a lengthy, exhaustive investigation into LG smart TVs, demonstrating that they behave like always‑on data‑collection devices. Further, some include native telemetry that continues to capture data even when the TV is used only as an HDMI "dumb monitor."

Over the course of a two-hour and fifteen-minute video (which is excellent and which we highly recommend watching), the team bought new LG TVs, including a G5 (highly rated on our list of best and worst LG TVs according to Consumer Reports), and used tools like Wireshark to inspect network traffic and firmware behavior. They discovered a number of ongoing pings, scans, and uploads as long as a TV is connected to the internet. They also uncovered some alarming vulnerabilities. Even after the ethernet cable providing internet to the TV was unplugged, it could still record and store audio via someone with remote access to the television (a theoretical hacker or other bad actor).

LG TVs include a number of features you may not be using, as well as many less savory ones you may know nothing about. At the core of LG's own bad behavior is the popular Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) by LG Ad Solutions, which fingerprints audio and video. The software then matches it to media databases and builds a viewing and behavior profile of you for ad targeting. The video shows recordings of LG executives saying things like "We own the glass," claiming knowledge of who's in an "LG household," what devices are present, and how to extend reach to mobiles, including for political campaigns. It also shows B2B advertising from LG, where the company claims to let its advertising partners "own the home" of consumers who own LG products.

The video supports these claims by showing how an LG TV collected extensive data about unrelated nearby devices, such as the smartwatches of other Gamers Nexus employees, who weren't aware the video was being filmed. It also notes that LG Ad Solutions' leadership includes people with past regulatory issues like Serge Matta, who was barred by the SEC from running a public company after a fraud settlement.

According to the investigation, LG TVs are capable of natively gathering and transmitting (deep breath): network and device discovery data (including IPs, MAC addresses, device types, and even detected apps), Wi‑Fi environment data from both you and your neighbors (like SSIDs, signal strengths, channels) that can aid geolocation, usage telemetry (active inputs, which apps you're loading up, timestamps when you turn the set on and off, DNS queries that reveal which channels you watch), as well as advertising IDs and audio fingerprints.

Even more troubling than LG's own data harvesting, the GN video highlights security flaws that could allow attackers to exploit these TVs. Working with third-party security researchers, the team describes remote code execution–class vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to control TV behavior. At one point, a GN employee presses a button to show how an attacker can shut down an LG TV remotely. The video also shows plain‑text transcripts of voice conversations picked up by the TV.

The team also illustrates scenarios where an LG TV can record via its mic and webcam even when the screen looks off, or record audio while unplugged from the network, with hackers exfiltrating data when the set reconnects. Compromised TVs could also serve as residential proxies or pivot points on a network, aiding lateral movement.

This means a hacker could essentially use your network as a VPN to mask their own malfeasance, or hop over to other devices on your network to steal your data, escalate privileges, etc. GN points out that further vulnerability details are under responsible disclosure, which means they can't be fully revealed. However, the researchers it worked with for the video recommend disconnecting LG smart TVs from your network. You can also take additional steps to prevent your smart TV from spying on you, like disabling the ACR feature and adjusting privacy settings.