Millions of LG owners just learned their television might keep listening long after the screen goes black.
Quick Take
- A tech investigation from Gamers Nexus claims LG smart TVs capture microphone audio even when the screen is off.
- The report says the TV kept gathering audio and storing it locally even after Wi-Fi was disconnected.
- LG denies the claims, saying voice data is only processed when a user presses the remote’s voice button or says a wake word.
- The allegations follow a May 2026 Texas settlement that already forced LG to change how it collects viewing data.
What The Investigation Actually Claims
Gamers Nexus, a tech channel with millions of subscribers, says it found LG smart TVs recording ambient audio through built-in microphones while the screen appeared powered down. According to reporting on the investigation, disconnecting the TV from Wi-Fi didn’t stop the behavior. It simply kept collecting and storing the audio locally until internet access returned.
That detail matters. A TV that stops listening once it loses internet access is one kind of concern. A TV that keeps recording and just waits to upload later is a different animal entirely. It suggests the microphone isn’t tied to your connection status at all, but to some other trigger inside the device that consumers can’t easily see or control.
This Isn’t LG’s First Privacy Fight This Year
Four months before this report surfaced, LG had already settled with Texas over a related issue. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the company of collecting viewing data through automatic content recognition technology without real consumer consent. LG agreed in May 2026 to add pop-up disclosures, offer a clear opt-out, and stop sending certain data to Chinese Communist Party-linked entities.
Critics called that settlement weak from the start. One tech commentator described it as “barely a slap on the wrist,” noting it required consent and an opt-out but left plenty of room for LG to keep collecting data by default. The new audio-recording claims arrived right on schedule to prove the skeptics right, or at least raise the same old doubts again.
Separate reporting adds another layer. Even after the settlement took effect, LG TVs reportedly kept scanning every device connected to a home’s Wi-Fi network, cataloging phones, laptops, and smart devices, while also capturing microphone audio during standby mode. If accurate, that means the privacy fix Texas negotiated didn’t reach the specific behavior now under fire.
LG Says The Claims Are Simply Not True
LG has pushed back hard and specifically. The company says voice data is only processed when someone presses and holds the remote’s voice button, or when a wake word like “Hi LG” is recognized after a user has turned on Far-Field voice recognition. Outside those moments, LG insists its TVs do not collect or record ambient conversations.
LG also says wake-word audio is processed locally on the device itself and gets deleted immediately if the wake word isn’t detected, meaning nothing gets sent to a server without the user actively triggering it. The company further states that automatic content recognition does not gather screenshots, video, or audio recordings from the television at all.
Why This Still Matters Even If LG Is Telling The Truth
Here’s the uncomfortable middle ground. Smart TV manufacturers have built entire business models around watching what you watch, then selling that behavioral data to advertisers. Automatic content recognition technology, now standard across most major TV brands, gathers viewing history and location data by default on many sets, often without customers realizing it’s happening.
That backdrop is exactly why claims like these spread so fast and stick so hard. Consumers have watched the industry get caught before, settle quietly, then keep pushing the boundary in a new direction once the headlines fade. Trust isn’t handed out freely to companies that treat privacy disclosures as a legal checkbox instead of an actual commitment to customers.
Not surprising, but still wild.
Researchers demonstrated a compromised LG Smart TV could listen even when it looked OFF.
It can also identify devices on your network and track what you watch via ACR.
Here’s how to stop your TV from spying on you. https://t.co/TjsYsnwPhE
— Crypto_Marina | λ | (@Crypto_marina) September 18, 2026
Conservative-minded consumers should see this for what it is: a market failure that government settlements alone haven’t fixed. Regulators forcing a pop-up disclosure doesn’t restore trust when the underlying hardware still has a working microphone and an opaque software stack. The real fix is personal vigilance, physically covering or disabling microphones, checking privacy settings manually, and voting with your wallet when a company’s denials don’t match its track record.
Whether LG’s TVs are truly listening in standby or not, one fact isn’t in dispute. Smart TV makers have repeatedly built data collection into their products before telling customers, and only stopped after lawsuits forced their hand. That pattern alone justifies healthy skepticism toward any denial, no matter how confidently worded.
Sources:
dataconomy.com, startupfortune.com, gadgetreview.com, engadget.com, gadgets360.com, arxiv.org, journals.sagepub.com
