LG is disputing claims from Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs and independent researchers who examined network traffic, firmware and the behavior of retail OLED TVs. The group alleges that some tested sets collected local-network and nearby Wi-Fi information, while LG says its TVs do not record ambient conversations unless a voice feature has been explicitly activated.
The findings concern the specific TVs and test conditions examined, rather than establishing identical behavior across LG's entire TV range. Researchers said the sets they tested could identify devices including phones, PCs and printers on the local network, and could gather information about nearby Wi-Fi networks and device-related identifiers.
They also focused on automatic content recognition, or ACR, technology, which can analyze audio and video to identify viewed content, including material delivered through HDMI. The researchers further alleged they observed microphone-related audio data while a TV was in standby, and said that in some tests data was retained locally while the TV was offline before being sent after an internet connection was restored.
The group has also reported remote-code-execution vulnerabilities to LG. Technical details have not been published while responsible disclosure is ongoing, so the scope, affected models and reproducibility of those issues remain unclear.
In a statement to The Register, LG said voice processing occurs only after the dedicated button is pressed or when the user has enabled detection of the “Hi LG” wake phrase. Outside those cases, the company said, its TVs do not collect or record ambient conversations.
LG confirmed that its TVs can discover devices on the same network, describing this as a normal capability for TVs and smart-home equipment. It also said ACR is optional and that the associated data is not used for advertising without user consent.
The dispute reflects a wider privacy issue for connected TVs, which combine internet access, apps, advertising systems, user accounts and, on some models, microphones. ACR has previously drawn regulatory scrutiny: Vizio agreed in 2017 to a US$2.2 million settlement with the FTC and the state of New Jersey over allegations involving viewing-history collection from roughly 11 million TVs without informed consent.
The key outstanding questions are which LG models and webOS versions were tested, the exact conditions behind the claimed audio behavior, and the eventual outcome of the vulnerability disclosures.
