LG has responded to allegations that its smart TVs are logging and uploading user data, following reports this week from Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and independent security researchers, according to The Verge.
In a statement, LG said “some recent media coverage may have contributed to misconceptions about how LG smart TVs work.” The company said its “TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” and that wake-word detection for its voice assistant is processed locally on the device.
However, according to The Verge, the word “continuously” carries significant weight in that denial, since Gamers Nexus reportedly demonstrated that an LG TV kept extensive logs of ambient conversations long after its AI assistant would be expected to have stopped listening.
LG also addressed its Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) system, along with voice recognition and interest-based advertising features, stating that all three are optional and “not enabled by default.” The company described how ACR works, saying it “uses audio fingerprinting technology using the TV’s internal audio processor (not a speaker) to identify content and does not collect screenshots, screen recordings, video recordings, voice recordings, or other audio recordings from the TV.”
According to The Verge, LG’s statement did not address several broader concerns raised by researchers, including how much data the company collects overall, who that data is shared with, the potential for bad actors to exploit these features, and what The Verge described as the misleading way LG presents its privacy options to users.
The dispute centers on a gap between LG’s characterization of its data practices as limited and optional, and outside researchers’ findings that at least some LG TVs retained detailed logs of ambient audio well beyond what users might expect from a voice-activated assistant. LG’s response focused narrowly on rebutting the idea of continuous audio recording and transmission, without directly engaging with the specific logging behavior researchers said they observed.
The Verge’s report frames LG’s statement as an attempt to correct what the company calls misconceptions, while noting the response leaves several of the researchers’ core concerns unaddressed. No further comment from LG on the unaddressed issues was included in the source report.
Key facts
- LG responded to allegations from Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and independent researchers about TV data logging, per The Verge.
- LG said its TVs ‘do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations’ and that wake-word detection is processed locally.
- Gamers Nexus reportedly showed an LG TV kept extensive ambient conversation logs after its assistant should have stopped listening.
- LG said Automatic Content Recognition, voice recognition, and interest-based advertising are optional and not enabled by default.
- LG described ACR as using audio fingerprinting via the TV’s internal audio processor, not a speaker, and said it does not collect recordings.
- LG’s statement did not address data collection scope, data sharing, exploitation risks, or how privacy options are presented, per The Verge.