LG Denies Its TVs Record Conversations: Three LG TV Privacy Settings to Check
LG has pushed back on reports that its smart TVs listen to what happens in your living room, saying in a statement on Friday that its "TVs do not continuously record or transmit users' conversations" and that wake-word detection runs locally on the set. The company also said automatic content recognition, voice recognition and interest-based advertising are "optional" and "not enabled by default".
For anyone with an LG set already plugged in, the denial settles little. The features LG calls optional are real, and they are switched on for plenty of people who clicked through setup years ago. Checking your LG TV privacy settings takes two minutes, and it is the only part of this story you control.
What did LG actually say?
LG's statement opens by arguing that "some recent media coverage may have contributed to misconceptions about how LG smart TVs work". It makes three claims: conversations are not continuously recorded or transmitted, wake-word detection runs on the device rather than in the cloud, and ACR, voice recognition and interest-based advertising are opt-in.
On ACR specifically, LG said the feature "uses audio fingerprinting technology using the TV's internal audio processor" to identify what is on screen, and "does not collect screenshots, screen recordings, video recordings, voice recordings, or other audio recordings from the TV". The word doing the heavy lifting is "continuously" — a set that is not recording around the clock can still hold more ambient audio than most owners expect, and the statement puts no number on retention.
What did the researchers report?
The claims LG is answering came out earlier in the week from independent security researchers and hardware-testing channels that examined several LG models. Their reported findings included:
- The TV enumerating other devices on the home network — phones, PCs, printers, switches and smart-home gear.
- Collection of nearby Wi-Fi network names, signal information and device identifiers.
- A demonstration that a compromised set could capture microphone audio, including while the TV appeared to be switched off.
- Audio being held on the set while it was disconnected from the internet, then sent once the connection returned.
- Remote-code-execution vulnerabilities, with details withheld during responsible disclosure.
Two things are worth separating. The network scanning is documented, and LG has confirmed it as standard functionality. The audio capture was shown on a set the researchers had already compromised — a demonstration of what a flaw could enable, not evidence that shipping TVs do it on their own. That distinction has been lost in most of the reaction.
Where are the LG TV privacy settings?
On webOS sets, press the settings button on the remote, open All Settings, then go to Support > Privacy & Terms. Three entries there are the ones that matter.
Viewing Information is the ACR toggle, the one behind LG's Live Plus feature that identifies what is on screen — including from a console or a streaming stick. Interest-Based Cross-Device Advertising links that profile to your phone and laptop. US sets add a Do Not Sell My Personal Information control. Switch off the first two and the TV works exactly as before.
Voice sits separately, under the assistant's own settings. If you never talk to your TV, switching off far-field voice recognition means the microphone is not waiting for a wake word at all. Labels shift between model years, but the Privacy & Terms screen is the constant.
Ad targeting on TVs is the same business as ad targeting anywhere else, which is why it keeps surfacing in places that used to be neutral, from paid listings inside Apple Maps to commercial breaks on every Netflix plan. A TV that knows what you watched is a better-informed bidder.
What has LG not answered?
Quite a lot. The statement does not say how much data the sets collect, who it is shared with, or how long it is kept. It does not address the remote-code-execution findings, and it does not answer the criticism that the privacy choices are framed to nudge people into accepting all of them at setup — a "Select All" button on a consent screen is not the same thing as opting in. In published reports, a settlement with the Texas attorney general earlier this year already required LG to obtain informed consent before using ACR.
None of this is unique to LG. No major TV brand ships with ACR off out of the box, and the same menu-diving applies to a Samsung, Sony or Roku set. If you want the screen without the profile, the answer is an unconnected panel driven by a separate box — one reason what Apple does next with the Apple TV matters. Routing traffic through a VPN on your network hides where data goes, not what the set gathers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do LG TVs record what you say?
LG says its TVs do not continuously record or transmit conversations, and that wake-word detection is processed on the set rather than in the cloud. Researchers separately demonstrated that a TV they had already compromised could capture microphone audio, including while it appeared to be off — that shows what a security flaw could enable, not that shipping sets do it by default.
How do I turn off ACR on an LG TV?
Press the settings button on the remote, open All Settings, then Support > Privacy & Terms, and switch off Viewing Information. That is the toggle behind LG's Live Plus feature, which identifies what is on screen. Labels move slightly between model years, but Privacy & Terms is where the controls live on every webOS set.
Does turning off ACR break anything on the TV?
No. Picture, sound, apps and inputs all work exactly the same. You lose content recommendations that were based on your viewing and the ad targeting built on top of them. Nothing you paid for stops functioning.
Is this only an LG problem?
No. As of 2026 no major TV brand ships with automatic content recognition disabled by default, and Samsung, Sony, Roku and Vizio sets all have equivalent settings buried in their own privacy menus. The specific security findings this week involved LG models, but the data-collection business model is industry-wide.
Will a VPN stop my TV from collecting data?
Not really. A VPN on your router hides where the traffic goes and masks your IP address, but the TV still fingerprints what is on screen and still scans your local network. The only thing that stops the collection is switching the features off in Privacy & Terms, or keeping the TV off the internet entirely and using a separate streaming box.
