LG Smart TVs Caught Listening With the Screen Off and Snooping Around Your Wi-Fi

A black screen usually means your TV has stopped paying attention. On some LG smart TVs, it may only mean you’ve stopped watching it.

It hasn’t stopped watching you, though.

A sweeping Gamers Nexus investigation, conducted with Level1Techs and independent security researchers, found that LG televisions could capture microphone audio while the screen appeared to be off, scan local networks for other devices, and collect detailed information about their surroundings.^[1]

Researchers also discovered security vulnerabilities that could potentially give an attacker control over a television inside your home.

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LG TVs never sleep

Researchers tested retail LG OLED televisions, including the LG G5, and monitored their network activity using Wireshark.

According to Notebookcheck, the TVs repeatedly swept their local networks for other hardware. That included devices such as phones and smartwatches, along with internal IP addresses.

The televisions also collected information about nearby Wi-Fi networks, including their names and signal strengths. Combined with location data, those signals can help build a surprisingly detailed picture of where a television is located and which devices share its environment.

And then there were the audio findings.

During controlled testing, researchers demonstrated that an LG TV could capture clear microphone audio while its screen appeared to be powered down in standby mode. Voice prompts were logged in plain text.

When the television was disconnected from Ethernet, it continued storing voice input locally. The saved data could then be uploaded after its internet connection was restored.

LG says they own your TV

Much of the concern centers on automatic content recognition (ACR), a tracking technology built into many modern smart TVs.

ACR samples audio and images from the screen to identify what you are watching. That can include content from streaming apps, cable, gaming consoles, and other devices connected through HDMI.

LG has been open about the commercial purpose of this technology. In 2022, the company announced it was expanding its proprietary ACR system to millions of TVs worldwide.

LG said the resulting data could help advertisers determine which households saw particular ads, reach viewers who had cut the cord, and measure whether an ad drove someone to a show, movie, or streaming app.

Its advertising arm now promotes access to 216 million LG smart TVs globally and 363 million “addressable secondary devices” in the U.S. — phones, tablets, and computers connected to the same household.

LG has hardly concealed its interest in the other devices around your television.

“At LG, we know who’s in the LG household. We know which devices are there,” Julian Zilberbrand, global head of data solutions at LG Ad Solutions, said in a 2025 interview. He added that LG knows what viewers are exposed to on television and can extend advertising to their mobile devices.

LG Ad Solutions President Serge Matta, on the other hand, didn’t mince words when he described the company’s relationship with its TVs.

“We own the glass. We own the TV,” Matta said in a clip included in the Gamers Nexus investigation video.

That makes the network scanning uncovered by researchers especially concerning. Functions used to discover legitimate nearby devices can also expose information about nearly everything connected to your home network.

Your television does not need to know that much about its roommates to play Netflix.

webOS security flaws

The investigation went beyond advertising and data collection. Researchers reportedly uncovered remote code execution vulnerabilities in webOS, the operating system used by LG smart TVs.

A remote code execution flaw may allow an attacker to run commands or software on a vulnerable device.

Technical details have not been released because the vulnerabilities are still going through responsible disclosure. Presently, there is no public evidence that attackers are actively exploiting these particular flaws.

However, a compromised smart TV could make an effective foothold inside a home network. It may have access to microphones, attached cameras, other local devices, and an internet connection, all while receiving far less scrutiny than a phone or computer.

LG denies recording ambient conversations

LG has not publicly responded to the latest investigation at the time of publication.

The company previously told TechRadar that its televisions “do not collect, record, or store ambient conversations.” LG said voice-recognition features are optional and activated by the user.

Of course, that denial does not fully resolve the concerns raised by Gamers Nexus, who found that voice-related data could be logged, stored, and retrieved, including while the television appeared to be in standby.

How to stop your LG TV from tracking you

Disconnect the television from the internet.

Remove its saved Wi-Fi network, unplug its Ethernet cable, and use an external streaming device through HDMI. Streaming boxes can track you too, so review their privacy settings, but separating the display from its smart operating system gives you more control.

If you want to keep using LG’s built-in apps, adjust the television’s privacy settings:

1. Open Settings, followed by All Settings.
2. On newer models, go to Support, then Privacy & Terms.
3. Select Viewing Information and disable the collection of viewing data.
4. On some older models, go to General, System, and Additional Settings, then switch off Live Plus.
5. Disable personalized advertising or enable Limit Ad Tracking.
6. Turn off hands-free voice control, AI voice recognition, and other microphone features you do not use.

Menu names vary by model and webOS version. Check these settings again after major software updates in case your choices have changed or new tracking options have appeared.

You can also place the television on a separate guest or Internet of Things network.

Network isolation can prevent it from freely communicating with computers, phones, storage drives, and other sensitive devices on your main network.

The bottom line

Smart TVs have quietly become advertising platforms equipped with screens, microphones, network access, and increasingly powerful software.

Gamers Nexus offered a fitting comparison: “If you want Flock cameras on your living room wall, this is how you get Flock cameras on your living room wall.”

LG may describe its technology as a way to connect advertisers with households across multiple devices. From the couch, it looks more like a television poking around your Wi-Fi and keeping notes after the screen goes black.

Author Details

Thomas Kent

About the Author

Thomas Kent is a multi-disciplined reporter with over a decade of experience covering online platforms, digital trends, and consumer-facing tech. Tom focuses on digital privacy, data tracking, and user behavior, with a particular interest in how cookies, online surveillance, and platform design shape the modern internet experience. His reporting takes a research-driven, news-focused approach, translating complex technical topics into clear, accessible insights.