Is your LG TV spying on you? What a new investigation found, and how to stop it
Researchers say retail LG smart TVs logged microphone audio with the screen off and quietly scanned the home network to fingerprint nearby devices. Here is what the investigation actually showed, what is still unproven, and the settings that reduce what your smart TV collects.
A hardware investigation published on 7 September 2026 reported that retail LG smart TVs logged microphone audio while the screen appeared to be off in standby, and actively scanned the local network to fingerprint phones and other devices in the home. The work, by Gamers Nexus with Level1Techs and independent researchers, used network captures on a current LG OLED set. LG had not responded when the report went out, and some details, including whether the standby audio capture is deliberate or a logging artefact, are still being argued over. The widely-quoted "216 million" figure is LG's own global smart-TV sales number, not a count of affected sets. Below is what was shown, what is not yet confirmed, and the settings that reduce what your TV collects.
If you have wondered "is my LG TV spying on me," a new investigation has given the question uncomfortable weight. On 7 September 2026, a team led by Gamers Nexus, working with Level1Techs and independent security researchers, published network captures they say show a retail LG smart TV doing two things buyers do not expect: logging microphone audio while the set looked powered off, and scanning the home network to build a picture of the devices around it. Here is the careful version, with the confirmed findings kept separate from the parts still in dispute.
What the investigation actually found
The researchers connected a current LG OLED television (LG's flagship G5) and watched its traffic with packet-capture tools. According to their report, the set did the following:
- Scanned the local network. The TV probed the home LAN to fingerprint other devices, logging details such as internal IP addresses of phones and smartwatches, and even neighbouring Wi-Fi network names and signal strengths, information that helps identify where a set sits and what is around it.
- Logged voice prompts in plain text. The webOS system recorded voice-assistant prompts in an unencrypted form.
- Captured microphone audio in standby. The most alarming claim: the set could capture microphone audio while the screen appeared to be off, holding it and uploading it when it reconnected.
The team also reported finding remote-code-execution bugs in webOS, which are under responsible disclosure, so the specifics are being withheld for now.
What is confirmed, and what is not
This matters, because the story is easy to overstate. The confirmed part is the observed behaviour on the tested hardware: the network scanning was captured in packet traffic, and the plaintext voice logging was found written to the TV's own storage. Together these are the core of the report. The genuinely contested part is intent: whether the standby audio capture reflects a deliberate "always listening" design or a byproduct of other logging is not established, and some coverage frames it instead through the separately-found webOS vulnerabilities, under which a compromised set could capture audio in standby. The researchers have been careful not to overclaim it. LG had not responded to this investigation when it was released; the company has, however, previously stated publicly that its TVs "do not collect, record, or store ambient conversations," a standing position these findings appear to contradict and that readers should weigh against them.
One number needs a caveat every time it appears. The "216 million" figure doing the rounds is LG's own global smart-TV sales claim, not the number of televisions confirmed to behave this way. Treat it as the rough scale of sets LG has sold, not a count of affected or "spying" sets.
Why a TV scans your network at all
Smart TVs are advertising platforms as much as displays, and knowing what else is on your network is commercially useful: it helps with cross-device tracking, content recommendations and ad targeting. Automatic Content Recognition, the technology that samples what is on screen to profile viewing, is already standard across the industry and is the backdrop to why a set would want to map its surroundings. None of that requires a microphone to be listening in standby, which is why the audio claim is the part drawing the most anger. The broader pattern here is the same one running through the fight over how your browsing is tracked and monetised across every device you own.
How to stop your smart TV from spying on you
You cannot fully audit a closed platform from the sofa, but you can cut down sharply what a set collects. The steps below apply to LG webOS and, with different menu names, to most smart TVs:
- Turn off Automatic Content Recognition. On LG this is the "Live Plus" setting; disabling it stops the screen-sampling profiling.
- Decline the advertising and "additional" data agreements. In the privacy or "user agreements" menu, withdraw consent for personalised ads and viewing-information collection. The TV keeps working.
- Disable the voice features. Turn off voice recognition and the voice assistant, and any "always ready" listening mode. Note that LG provides no hardware microphone off-switch, and the investigation reported standby audio capture persisting regardless, so treat this as reducing exposure, not a guarantee.
- Cut the TV off the internet, or wall it off. The strongest option is to not connect the TV to the internet at all and use an external streaming stick you trust. A weaker but still useful step is to isolate the TV on a guest network: that stops it fingerprinting your phones and computers, but because the set stays online it does not stop it uploading collected data.
- Turn off the standby "wake" features. Disable Quick Start+ (and, on newer webOS, the "Always Ready" AI service), which keep parts of the set awake when it looks off. The researchers found standby capture persisted even then, so the most reliable protection is keeping the TV off your network entirely.
Frequently asked questions
Is my LG TV spying on me?
A September 2026 investigation by Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs reported that a retail LG smart TV logged microphone audio in standby and scanned the home network to fingerprint nearby devices. The network scanning was captured in traffic and the plaintext voice logging was found on the TV's own storage; whether the standby audio capture is deliberate is still being debated, and LG had not responded when the report was published.
How do I stop my smart TV from spying or recording?
Turn off Automatic Content Recognition (called "Live Plus" on LG), decline the personalised-ads and data-collection agreements in the privacy menu, disable the voice assistant and voice recognition, and either keep the TV off the internet entirely (using a separate streaming device) or put it on an isolated guest network.
Does my LG TV have a microphone, and how do I turn it off?
Yes, LG TVs with voice control have a microphone, usually in the remote and sometimes the set. Disable it in Settings under the voice-assistant or "voice recognition" options. Note LG does not provide a hardware microphone off-switch, so this is a software setting, and the investigation's standby-capture finding is exactly why that distinction matters.
Are other smart TVs, like Samsung, doing this too?
Data collection through Automatic Content Recognition is an industry-wide practice, not unique to LG, and Samsung, Hisense and others run similar viewing-data programmes. This specific investigation tested an LG set; the mitigations above apply, with different menu names, across brands.
Was there a smart TV spying lawsuit or settlement?
Smart-TV data collection has drawn regulatory action and litigation in the past, most notably a US settlement over a rival maker's tracking earlier in the decade. This LG investigation is new and, as of publication, has not itself produced a lawsuit; it is a security-research report, not a court finding.
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