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LG TVs are recording audio and sending it back illegally

Recent reports (Sept 2025) from Gamers Nexus, amplified by Ars Technica, The Verge, and Tom's Hardware, allege LG TVs perform extensive tracking including LAN scanning and possible audio-related data collection. LG strongly denies the claims, and there is no confirmed evidence that LG TVs are illegally recording and transmitting audio. Historical precedent exists (Vizio settlement, 2017 Texas LG petition, Samsung's 2015 voice-recognition disclosure) that smart TVs collect substantial viewing/behavioral data, sometimes disclosed only in fine print, but 'illegal audio recording' specifically is not established.

Largest vulnerability: Significant uncertainty — conflicting evidence is the main limit: Support ratio 62% (direction: mixed) — evidence is genuinely split.

Sources (25)

The competing case

The evidence is genuinely split. Here is each side and how it balances.

Competing claims we weighed

  • LG strongly denies that its TVs are tracking users or recording audio, calling the allegations 'not true' and asserting that its data practices are lawful and disclosed.
  • Smart TV data collection, including behavioral and viewing data, is a broadly disclosed and industry-standard practice, not a covert or illegal activity unique to LG.
  • A 2017 Texas Attorney General petition alleged LG TVs collected consumer data without adequate consent, but this was a regulatory complaint, not a finding of illegal audio recording.
  • The LG TV tracking investigation by Gamers Nexus, while showing LAN scanning and data transmission, did not conclusively prove audio is being recorded and transmitted illegally.

Epistry weighs the case for and against — see the full breakdown, including the opposing evidence and why it held or failed, in the app.

Analyzed by Epistry · last updated · privacy, surveillance, consumer electronics, data transmission, television
LG TVs are recording audio and sending it back illegally — Epistry