An investigation reveals that LG’s smart televisions may continue collecting viewer data even when turned off, raising wider questions about privacy practices across the industry and the challenge for consumers to control their own information.
The row over LG’s smart TVs has exposed a wider truth about the modern television market: many sets now make as much money from viewer data as they do from hardware sales. A lengthy investigation by Gamers Nexus, cited by Frandroid, alleged that some LG sets could keep collecting information even when they appeared to be switched off. LG rejected the most serious claims, but the broader issue is harder to dismiss: automatic content recognition, or ACR, is built into much of the industry and is designed to identify what people watch, then turn that information into advertising value.
ACR works by sampling fragments of picture or sound, converting them into digital fingerprints and matching them against reference databases. That allows a set to identify programmes from streaming services, broadcast television, Blu-ray players and games consoles alike. What it captures is not limited to one brand. According to reporting by The Verge, the model is common across the sector because margins on televisions are thin and manufacturers increasingly depend on recurring revenue from data and advertising.
LG has responded with a detailed defence. In a statement published on its US newsroom and summarised by What Hi-Fi?, the company said ACR is optional, turned off by default and requires user consent. LG also said voice features activate only when the user presses the microphone button on the remote or says the wake phrase “Hi LG”. Tom’s Guide reported that LG separately argued its device-discovery features are intended to support connectivity, not profiling or advertising. The company has denied claims that it records private conversations without permission or uses ambient audio in the way critics allege.
The controversy has nonetheless sharpened scrutiny of the wider smart-TV ecosystem. Malwarebytes, citing the Gamers Nexus investigation and independent researchers, said some allegations go beyond viewing data and extend to microphone activity, nearby Wi-Fi information and other signals that could be combined into detailed household profiles. That is a more serious accusation than ordinary ad targeting, and one LG has firmly disputed. Even so, the dispute shows how difficult it is for consumers to separate legitimate device functions from data collection that serves commercial purposes.
For viewers who want to reduce tracking, the practical answer is to move through the settings menus and switch off ACR and ad personalisation where possible. Consumer-facing guides from Tom’s Guide and Frandroid say LG owners can do this through privacy controls, while similar options exist on Samsung, Sony, Roku and Google TV devices. Users can also mute the remote microphone, reset advertising identifiers and, for stronger isolation, place the TV on a guest network or use an external streaming box. In Europe, such collection is supposed to require clear, unforced consent, which makes default-ticked privacy screens especially sensitive under data protection law.
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