LG TVs listen even when the internet and microphone are turned off

The latest research, published by Gamers Nexus in collaboration with experts from Level1Techs and independent security researchers, reveals serious privacy flaws in LG Electronics’ smart TVs. Tests conducted on their LG OLED TVs, including the LG OLED G5 series, revealed extensive covert data collection over the local network.

By analyzing network traffic, they found that LG Smart TVs are constantly searching for other devices on the same network, such as smartphones and smartwatches. In addition to local IP addresses, they also collect the names and signal strengths of neighboring Wi-Fi networks and location data. All of this data is then fed to LG Ad Solutions, an advertising subsidiary. This gives LG’s advertising division access to hundreds of millions of devices connected to users’ networks. LG OLED TVs also use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology, which creates digital fingerprints of image and audio signals, to accurately track viewership.

Most concerning is the finding that LG's smart TV is capable of capturing clear ambient sound through its microphone even when the screen is off. When researchers disconnected the LG OLED G5 TV from the internet, the device stored the audio recordings in local memory and automatically sent them to LG's servers as soon as the connection was restored. In addition, vulnerabilities were discovered in LG's webOS operating system that allow remote code execution and are currently being reported.

The Gamers Nexus team advises users to completely disconnect their LG TV from the internet and use external streaming players instead.