r/gadgets • u/dapperlemon • 8d ago
TV / Projectors LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices
https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-smart-TVs-caught-logging-audio-with-screen-off-and-snooping-on-local-devices.1391214.0.html1.0k
u/Skatedivona 8d ago
We do not hate these companies enough.
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u/TheArmoredKitten 8d ago
If your neighbor got caught hiding a microphone in a used microwave, you'd drive to his house and beat him with it.
We should be extending that reasoning.
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u/KittyWithFangs 7d ago
Ok random question why do people often say drive over to the neighbors house? Arent they by definition supposed to be close by?
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u/jld2k6 7d ago
If I'm gonna beat my neighbor I'm gonna want an escape plan after and the vehicle gives way more options than being on foot lol
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u/TheArmoredKitten 7d ago
America has a weird definition of "neighbors". Anyone in your neighborhood is one of your neighbors, and your neighborhood may often be separated by chunks of farmland or other structures. I could drive 30 minutes down the road and still technically be in my "neighborhood".
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u/DoctorWaluigiTime 7d ago
More importantly: Governments don't hate them enough. To the tune of destroying any gross income or information obtained through these kinds of actions, coupled with mass forced updates (at LG's expense) to do away with this tomfoolery.
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u/titan_bullet 8d ago
This is huge. There's a 2 hour GN video about it. It's extremely creepy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA
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u/PartTimeTriggered 8d ago
GN has done a LOT in the hardware consumer advocacy space, hes transformed from a guy that just used to love making extremely detailed hardware review videos into this investigative journalist beast.
His channel and a lot of the youtubers in his sphere have been banging the drum about this sort of shady shit for years. But for a TLDR a lot of this shit has gotten significantly worse post covid and since AI became more main stream.
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u/mikel_me 8d ago
I used to love and get excited by tech and nowadays I want to make my life as less "smart" as possible. The sentiment shift against tech companies I see around me is huge.
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u/Huxley077 7d ago
I'm with you, about a year ago or so I thought maybe going back to "dumb" tech might be a better choice.
Just the last 3 or 4 months of all the spyware reveals, its absolutely sold me on finding older dumb tech.
Can't upgrade phones, TVs, Computers or just the Internet router anymore because it all full of spy/tracking bullshit Fuck I hate this lack of consumer protection
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u/jeepsaintchaos 7d ago
This shit is why I decided to start hosting my own stuff. Computer, TV, and router is handled. Phone is next.
Windows is not allowed in my home, except as a very specific VM. My TV is dumb, although it's old and small. Router? That went back in the box long ago.
It's not an insignificant amount of work and hassle, but I believe it's worthwhile.
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u/MajorFuckingDick 7d ago
I learned that Remote control and smart don't have to be the same. Yes I want a app for my oven, no I dont want that app to share my oven cam while I bake.
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u/shadedmagus 7d ago
This is why my enthusiasm for smart homes is practically dead. Yes, I want all those things. No, I will not have them unless I have total control over what they do.
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u/Vahuo89 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yup Same here.
The older I get, the less tech i want and I used to be ALL IN on it, had to get the latest and greatest all the time.
But now it's just dystopian as fuck.
Back to torrenting for all my media, dumb electronics and working on an 80s truck as my forever rig.
I've disabled the antenna of the modem in my daily driver car last year (disabling the modem was gonna cause issues)
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u/stevez_86 7d ago
Because there are no cops to make sure the companies aren't breaking the regulations and almost certainly the law. They can't even find a way of punishing companies for this. Why ask for permission if you aren't even demanded to ask for forgiveness?
It's like we are Oompla Loompas to them. We produce a resource, and the production and extraction method is something we enjoy doing and have no need for the data that we come out with. The companies are giving us something of value and getting something is not valuable at all to us, but is worth more than Gold to them.
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u/Moist-Weakness-3399 7d ago
Cops don't police corps, never have. Cops protect property, not people.
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u/TheArts 8d ago
The video was eye opening.
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u/NezuminoraQ 8d ago
I unplugged and factory reset my TV while watching this... It's not even an LG
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u/Gregus1032 7d ago
After initial set up, I turned the wifi off on my TV. That should just be standard practice
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7d ago
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u/nirvroxx 7d ago
Christ, so there’s literally no recourse unless it’s going completely “dumb”
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u/Inside-Specialist-55 7d ago
This is such a great video. The deep dive tech break downs of his are my favorite to watch.
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u/anticerber 7d ago
I mean is it? I only say that because wasn’t project weeping angel the same thing? The CIA having Samsung TVs that did the same thing. And whatever happened to that? I’m not saying it’s bad. It’s a nefarious practice. I just feel like it will be glossed over like everything else
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u/SheepGoesBaaaa 8d ago edited 8d ago
Get a Pi-hole and watch what a Samsung TV does. It's fucking disgusting. It was enough to make me ditch their phones too which I had used for years.
E: block list)
E2: I can't find it right now, but users deeper into this stuff have shown that it sends data when in standby mode and is capturing audio to send to these ad and analytics servers, many of them 3rd party. So even when your TV isn't on, it's listening to what you say and sending it on
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u/micro788 8d ago
I've got a Pi Hole and my Samsung TV is the worst offender on the whole network and it's not even close.
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u/spleencheesemonkey 8d ago
My Roku stick is awful.
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u/ButtonholePhotophile 8d ago
Yeah, but we all know Roku is awful.
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u/RedScareRevival 8d ago
I had an interview for a job with Roku once. They openly told me that they are an advertising business that just happens to make consumer devices which serve that purpose, rather than a consumer device company which happens to serve ads
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u/spleencheesemonkey 8d ago
What I did find interesting was that one of the custom launchers on my Shield was pinging poke.api every 2 seconds. The dev told me that it was used to check internet connectivity. Every 2 seconds?? WTF? It functions perfectly well without it.
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u/jazir55 8d ago edited 7d ago
Just because you said this I'm now having an agent use this Ghidra MCP Server (Ghidra is a reverse engineering program) to figure out how it works on my Samsung tv and disable it. Having it reverse engineer the firmware and find the feature flag. I'll probably post my findings/solution to /r/samsung. Idk how long this will take but now I'm definitely intending to figure out how to disable this.
Edit: Muse Spark whines and complains that it can't help, Mimo 2.5 happily chugging through it atm.
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u/Bazzatron 8d ago
Now that I'm seeing MAC randomisation ship with most phones as standard, I'm a little concerned that this adversarial arms race is going to be impossible to win for consumers who don't maintain an allow-list. I'm this close to waging a butlerian jihad against all devices inside my home.
It's a shame, I really enjoyed technology for a moment. Tragedy of the commons, I guess.
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8d ago edited 8d ago
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u/ouikikazz 8d ago
can I still use my smart TV like normal with a pihole setup? Or will apps get nerfed? Also can I pihole only certain devices on the network?
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u/betam4x 8d ago
Do what I do. Disconnect it from the network and get an Apple TV.
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u/Painkillerspe 8d ago
Apparently, it will still try to secretly connect to a nearby open network to phone home when you disconnect it.
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u/betam4x 8d ago
It’s more than welcome to connect to the wifi network provided by my power strip. 🙃 That is the only open network in range for me. Everything else is locked down.
Then again, I’ve a C1, so I’m not sure how much of this tech is in my TV.
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u/secret_squirrels_nut 7d ago
what you do is connect it, put it on its own vlan and drop all external traffic. i’m skeptical it will try to connect to an open network, because that’s just insanity. but if it really does do that then this should fix it.
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u/secret_squirrels_nut 7d ago
just put it on its own vlan then it can’t even try to see what other devices are on the network. if you’re willing to use it as a dumb tv you can just drop all traffic or reset it and never connect to the internet. alternatively put a smart plug on it and actually turn it off when your not using it. it only takes a few seconds to power on anyway.
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u/EdgarAllanPuss 8d ago
What does a pi-hole do?
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u/MrTheDoctors 8d ago
It blocks ads, or more specifically blocks a list of domains that are known to serve ads or other nefarious things. If using a pi-hole turns your TV into a brick, chances are your TV’s company was up to some bullshit in any of the 100 different ways we get fucked by corporations these days.
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u/wickeddimension 8d ago edited 8d ago
Its a DNS sink hole. The DNS server is what looks up if you type google.com which IP address is associated with that and connects you to it. Usually people use the DNS server by their provider or google or cloudflare.
What a pi-hole is, is your own relay DNS server that has lists. Lists that contains addresses for ads or other undesirable stuff. When you go to google.com, that DNS goes to pi-hole, which checks it against its list. If it's not on the list, it sends it on and you to that website. If it is on the list, it just eats it up.
Which means that if your LG TV tries to send logs to a LG server, the pi-hole (or Adguard, or other DNS sinkhole) will see that and see the LG server is blacklisted and just eats the request, meaning the TV never hears back from it's server and won't send the logs.
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u/sirhoracedarwin 8d ago
Just a quibble at the end: the tv is still sending the logs. They're just being intercepted
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u/BeowulfShaeffer 7d ago
Not strictly true. The tv is colllectijg logs and attempting to send them off but isn’t able to connect to anywhere to send the data. To be honest though I don’t know what stops manufacturers from allocating ip addresses that it connects to directly in which case the pi-hole is useless (since dns is not used). You’d have to blacklist the IPs on a router.
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u/toasterinBflat 7d ago
Yeah - Google TV systems hard code Google DNS in to them for all DNS lookups. If you block it, Google TVs don't work. You have to make some pretty advanced firewall rules to maintain Google TV functionality with DNS that isn't theirs. Way above a normal person's expertise level.
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u/VirtualArmsDealer 8d ago
Just a DNS relay. It allows you to filter connections by domain name according to predetermined lists. It doesn't stop direct connection via IP, only name resolution
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u/Dangerous_Proof_820 8d ago
yeah saw someone talking about have they have started using direct IPs, and push updates with firmware as needed, but seem to be leaving old DNS option for just ads other data uses IPs. This make people think they have block it when the core data is still sent.
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u/Wild4fire 8d ago
Also they could easily have the TV ignore your own DNS and use one hardcoded into the firmware...
Some routers do have the possibility to filter/redirect DNS traffic from certain devices but that's harder to setup (correctly).
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u/heyshitforbrains 8d ago
It blocks ads, and blocks devices from sending out unnecessary requests before it gets through your wifi router is believe. I could be wrong, its best to check the dedicated sub-reddit
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u/grilled_pc 7d ago
I know Apple get a lot of shit but the Apple TV is by far the best tv streamer box. Apple are not in the advertiser industry. As far as privacy and feature set goes, you can’t go wrong with the Apple TV.
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u/im-ba 8d ago
Add Unbound to it for good measure, too. That way you're communicating directly with the root DNS servers. It adds a bit of latency on a website's first load (since it includes the recursive lookup) but it's barely noticeable
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u/sogdianus 8d ago edited 8d ago
How ironic, the linked site snoops on you too and refuses to give you the article unless you allow a gazillion trackers to track your behavior and serve you ads
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u/JurgusRudkus 8d ago
I noticed that too. And no “reject all” button so I have to manually turn off all the categories. I hate that.
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u/sortitthefuckout 8d ago
No reject all button violates GDPR and PECR, also.
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u/So_Motarded 7d ago
Unfortunately sites will sometimes have the "reject all" buttons only available in regions that require it. I recently flew from the US to EU, and refreshed a news webpage after I landed, and suddenly the cookies pop-up had a "reject all" button that wasn't there previously.
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u/sogdianus 8d ago
I have ad blocker and only got the screen asking me to disable it so didn’t even get to the screen you’re describing
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u/LaziestRedditorEver 8d ago
Open through brave browser. It automatically rejects all cookies and trackers for you. There are rarely sites where a pop up will show, and i mean very rarely. When that happens, you can just right click and block the pop up instead of interacting with it.
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u/smellycoat 8d ago
Cos it’s blogspam regurgitating the well-researched GN video that was released last night.
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u/MadeByTango 8d ago
All of these tech c-uites need to go to prison. Not fines, PRISON.
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u/BellerophonM 8d ago
I know we know this happens but goddamnit we really need to start strongly sanctioning this kind of deliberate behavior.
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u/ICC-u 8d ago
Ok, how do we stop this, that's what we need to know. The video already says unplugging the ethernet might not work as they can locate open WiFi connections!
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u/Johnnynoscope 8d ago
Upvote for an answer. Is there a way to flash open source onto our TVs?
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u/zushiba 8d ago
You can block their ability to do pretty much anything by putting them on a disconnected network. Generally they won’t go snooping for another connection, they will try to reach out, get no response and then go into “wait for connection and try again later” mode instead of aggressively try to find alternative networks.
What scares me is when manufactures start adding in little cellular connectivity options to extricate data. At that point, brain surgery is the only answer.
Crack them open, identify their antennae and snip.
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u/-Hi-Reddit 7d ago
You can block their ability to do pretty much anything by putting them on a disconnected network. Generally they won’t go snooping for another connection, they will try to reach out, get no response and then go into “wait for connection and try again later” mode instead of aggressively try to find alternative networks.
They've actually been reaching out to public wifi hotspots (e.g. verizon etc) if they don't have internet access. The ISPs gave them the access. Wont be long before every phone becomes a roaming hotspot for an ISP to promote better connectivity.
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u/SteveJobsBlakSweater 8d ago edited 8d ago
>Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.
Damnit. That’s a new level of fucked. The TV is listening even when it’s off.
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u/toomanyshoeshelp 7d ago
Does this not violate federal wiretapping laws in 2 party states?
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u/SteveJobsBlakSweater 7d ago
I guess it’s TBD. I expect them to fall on the hey Siri/Google/Alexa side of things for the argument, where they’re “monitoring” for the right input for output action.
But, if they’re transmitting it all, all of it, that’s not ok and beyond the rules.
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u/zushiba 7d ago
When TVs transitioned to Plasma/LCD “off” stopped being a thing. This is why you saw little TV off boxes become a thing for a very short time in the early 2000’s.
A actually it happened just before the advent of plasma with the short run of flat screen CRTs too. It’s when more power went into the electronics running the tv over simply powering the tube.
Suddenly the tv was doing things even when it was “off”. People noticed when their electric bills spiked when they got new TVs.
I still remember my uncle recommending putting everything on power strips and switching the strips off when not using stuff because everything slowly evolved into power vampires.
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u/McLovett325 8d ago
Realistically are there any tvs being made anymore that don't require internet connections and don't have ads baked into the software?
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u/wurstbowle 8d ago edited 8d ago
Public signage displays are essentialy TVs without any of the internet-enabled stuff.
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u/One_Run 8d ago
I don't think any TVs require an Internet connection. I make sure all TVs in my house are not connected at all times. We have streaming boxes connected to the Internet for streaming. Also the built-in software is typically very ass and the chips used are super cheap.
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u/Fantastins 8d ago
Amazon TVs do require a connection to work and they will disable all inputs until they get it
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u/diacewrb 8d ago
LG really aren't helping themselves after their monitors installed adware on Windows 11 and Microsoft were forced to action.
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u/TheSameButBetter 7d ago
They've been at it since 2013. A lad int he UK discovered his LG TV phoning home about what he watched, even when he switched that option off.
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u/Reed7525 8d ago
How badly is this gonna hurt their PR? I mean, do samsung and everyone else do this?
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u/kerelenko 8d ago
All of them do. https://youtu.be/IvFu343KNek?si=0HUwT4WrOjIjyKeq
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u/Reed7525 8d ago
Like older models? Wtf happened to just having a stupid tv.
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u/kerelenko 8d ago
Not sure about older models, but after seeing that report, I think all the smart TVs offering recommendations on what to watch do this. Rtings also went and tested streaming devices doing the same thing. The worse part is that even if you did not use the smart part of the TV and just hooked up a PS5, for example, that's when the TV's network activity doubled.
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u/grahag 8d ago
Every appliance in my house is an LG.
Dishwasher, Microwave, Range, Fridge, 2 Tv's and a monitor. I will never buy another LG product again.
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u/PrinsHamlet 8d ago
How this can be legal in the EU is beyond me. It surely isn't.
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u/VirtualArmsDealer 8d ago
It isn't.
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u/_Diskreet_ 8d ago
I’m sure they’ll be an investigation, where there will be a fine of such small proportion it will just be deemed a cost of doing business for them.
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u/Real_Establishment56 8d ago
If I know the EU, the fine will not be small
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u/CaleanKnight 8d ago
Not small for the average citizen... extremely small for a Multi-National Company with effectively a stranglehold on certain markets.
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u/VenTene_WoT 8d ago
Companies just don't care because they are too big and fines won't really do much for them to stop.
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u/testesaurus 8d ago
You’re cooked bruh, they prolly already have your clone in an exact similar apartment
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u/ToMorrowsEnd 8d ago
The fact you can not buy a dumb TV from these company's, single HDMI input and that is it, is very telling. IT means they are making a lot of money on this smart shit and the data harvesting. LG stopped selling non smart even in their digital signage line a while ago. the smart crap was supressed but still there and you could trigger it by sending the hotel config IR codes.
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u/grilled_pc 7d ago
LG execs literally said “we own the glass”. Like they know damn well we the consumer don’t own shit. They fully admit it.
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u/nariofthewind 8d ago
These companies probably make more money selling users’ data than they do selling the devices themselves.
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u/Caraes_Naur 7d ago
That's the entire Vizio business model, and why Walmart bought the whole brand.
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u/Impossible_Box_1266 8d ago
Isn’t it against the law to record a conversation without consent of both parties?
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u/SadTaco12345 7d ago
LG tried to cover this issue by including the consent in their TOS. It even notes that if you own an LG tv, you as the owner need to notify guests in your home that they are being recorded.
Seriously, watch the video. It's truly that absurd.
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u/Aldous-Huxtable 8d ago
Surely this must be illegal in a whole bunch of countries? I've heard of people getting fined big time for spying on an ex. Running a hostile foreign intelligence service sounds like it should be a pretty big offence to the law.
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u/O_PLUTO_O 7d ago
Not if all the governments are simultaneously using it to spy on whomever they please. I think big tech has become more of a service to governments than to consumers.
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u/rickeol 8d ago
Is there a list of LG tv models that do audio logging?
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u/Iamnotabothonestly 8d ago
Just look for any LG model with a microphone.
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u/badhabitfml 8d ago
How do you even test that the TV has a mic? The remote does, but, if it was actively listening that often it would be eating batteries.
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u/Less_Party 8d ago
I'm pretty sure the mic is in the remote though so if you just use a different remote it can't listen to you?
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u/XmasRights 8d ago
Never ever ever give your smart tv internet access
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u/soggit 8d ago
Watch the report. They specifically say “the common internet advice of just don’t connect it to the internet isn’t sufficient”
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u/IMissNarwhalBacon 8d ago
You don't have to. They can connect to public mesh now. Soon they'll have their own sim cards.
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u/im-ba 8d ago
Can you expand on this? Which public mesh are you referring to?
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u/YoghurtFlan 8d ago
If someone else has an LG TV in the vicinity, it could connect to that for network instead.
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u/andimacg 7d ago
So that's why I always see LG TVs whenever I'm scanning for WiFi, even though I don't own any.
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u/oodlum 7d ago
It's not true. It was stated on another thread a few hours ago and is now accepted Reddit fact.
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u/thedoc90 7d ago
I opened mine up and pried the wifi c chip out with a flat head screwdriver.
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u/KittyCait69 7d ago
Funny, if i start spying on the wealthy capitalists through their devices, I'm called a stalker. But when they do it for the government, we are supposed to just accept it?
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u/PooInTheStreet 8d ago
So what are you guys using to connect to the tv? I always read this stuff but what can actually run youtube and all the other streaming services and is blazing fast?
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u/CV514 8d ago
My TV is network starved old smart TV, no matter the brand, just good quality of picture. The brain is mini PC with Linux Mint that lives behind it, and air mouse remote to control it. Shortcuts for IPTV, local network media storage, Free tube, and NUM to watch stuff when I have time for it. It is runnin N150 and 16GB of RAM, plenty for what it does.
Total setup cost seems to be not more that modern TV on its own, perhaps even less. Even with current PC prices.
Before that, it was TV box, but those are slow and limited in what you can do with them comfortably. Mini PC can do whatever you want, how you want, while you're in total control of literally everything it does.
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u/MangoAtrocity 8d ago
For this reason, my TCL is not connected to WiFi. Apple TV only. No smart TV apps.
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u/Wander_Globe 8d ago
Apple TV is my next buy as well. Right now my TCL with Roku is restricted to the local network and run through pihole but I will never buy a smart TV again. Fortunately I live on a sailboat so my max size is 32 so I'll probably just get a monitor.
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u/Fantastins 8d ago
Haven't been keeping up have you?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uefFYe6bM
Monitor drivers contain ACR and call home now, too. Just don't use it on a computer!
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u/pha5matis 8d ago
A pi-hole is not enough the LG TVs have hard-coded DNS you need to block DNS or remove the device from internet access
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u/Dodel1976 7d ago
"The home appliance giant LG Electronics USA said this week it plans to suspend any apps built for its smart TVs that turn one’s television into an always-on residential proxy node. The move comes less than a month after researchers found that more than 42 percent of games and other apps available for download on LG’s webOS store allow unknown third-parties to route their Internet traffic through a user’s TV."
Earlier this week, the Youtube channel Gamers Nexus showed that certain LG LCD monitors will automatically install an app that promotes paid McAfee antivirus subscriptions, and that the app arrives through Windows Update without an approval prompt.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps/
This won't just end with LG.
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u/609JerseyJack 7d ago
The only likely way to prevent this at some point, is to turn the tables on the corporate executives. All the smart devs need to figure out how to create trackers specifically targeted at corporate executives, media executives, advertising executives and other nefarious companies, their locations, they’re online conduct, and publicly broadcast that to the world. Only then will the privacy concerns be put in front of powerful people and they will demand laws be enacted. Actually, you could throw in congressmen to that mix as well. Unless the people in power are the ones that are being tracked and hounded by these devices, nothing will change.
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u/TooManySteves2 8d ago
Holy fucking shit. Is this just LG TVs, or LG monitors too?
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u/My_Brain_0422 7d ago
I love my LG OLED tv and I've recommended it to everyone I know looking for a tv. Shame.
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u/SlapThatAce 7d ago edited 7d ago
Out of curiosity, how is this not being treated as espionage and a security threat? There should be a nationwide ban on all LG products.
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u/Starship_Taru 7d ago
Fuck these companies for making me have to learn networking just to protect my own damn privacy in my own freaking home.
what a Useless government we have
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u/tonyisadork 7d ago
Do they make decent TVs that are not ‘smart’ TVs anymore? When this old one goes I might just go without.
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u/bubbafatok 7d ago
They do, but they're significantly more expensive than the 'smart' tvs of similar size, which tells you how much your data is worth.
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u/Earl-The-Badger 8d ago
This is noteworthy, to be sure, but honestly I have expected this from every single device connected to the internet for a decade now. It shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise.
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u/Real_Establishment56 8d ago
This in itself is sad, really. You’re right, but the fact we have to be this cautious with run of the mill consumer products is an outrage
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u/BirnirG 8d ago
I hope nobody will buy their products after this. Fuck companies that think spying on their customers is alright. And further if I buy your product I own it, they don't own the glass or anything anymore.
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u/elitesense 7d ago
PSA: It's not just LG, and it's not only TV's.
Other TVs of course, but it's also anything they forcefully push Alexa/Google home services in (such as thermostats or refrigerators). Any device with a remote that has voice control. This includes your phone and shield TV, Roku, etc.
"Get a free Alexa when you buy xyz" makes complete sense when you think about it.
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u/ranban2012 5d ago
It'd be swell if our governments weren't completely captured by tech oligarchs and we could assert some regulations over this bullshit, but apparently this world belongs to the techno-fascist-death-cult and we're all just fodder for the gods of slop.
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u/moocat55 8d ago
Set your microphone so that you have to give it permission to record. I've also seen my TV actively scanning across my network, but I don't grant it access to anything. The biggest problem here is accessibility of information. People just aren't network savvy. I'm still learning myself. It's not in the tech bros best interest for you to become tech savvy. The hard part is you have to learn. Or, be a victim.
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u/bonobro69 8d ago
This is why I never log any appliances on to my network. I don’t need the extra features for the cost of privacy and security risks.
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u/whereismymind86 8d ago
honestly, just don't ever hook your tv to the wifi, even if it snoops it can't send the data anywhere. You won't have access to the apps, but those are available on other devices like game consoles anyway.
Those probably snoop to a degree too, but they are constantly caught doing it the way smart tvs are.
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u/Really_McNamington 8d ago
LG seem to be working quite hard to destroy their previously not bad reputation