this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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Earlier this week, Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and independent security researchers detailed some alarming findings about how LG’s TVs are logging and uploading data on its users. Now the company is pushing back against those allegations, saying that “Some recent media coverage may have contributed to misconceptions about how LG smart TVs work.”

LG released a statement in which it claims that its “TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” and that wake-word detection is all processed locally. However, the word “continuously” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here as Gamers Nexus demonstrated an LG TV keeping extensive logs of ambient conversations long after one would assume its AI assistant had stopped listening.

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[–] DigDoug@lemmy.world 258 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

If they were actually wrong about anything, LG would be suing the pants off them right now.

Instead LG are "debunking" claims that weren't actually made.

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Exactly this.

If any of GN's claims were false, it'd be a very serious case of false allegations. LG could easily sue them, win quickly, get a couple million dollars in damages, and more.

The fact that they're not suing tells us all we need to know.

[–] pdxfed@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Yeah, even then lots of times courts are used in asymmetrical economic situations against the smaller party so not always a tell with shitty actors.

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 181 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not addressing the other areas amounts to confirmation

[–] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 76 points 1 week ago

"Misleading" can be such a telling wiggle word.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 135 points 1 week ago (3 children)

After the recent controversies, I added a bunch of blockers for LG trackers to my pi-hole, to stop my 8 year old TV from collecting data. It blocked a lot at first, but then suddenly nothing, I investigated a bit and saw that it had started sending only to their Vietnamese servers, which were missing from my blocklist.

Make sure you block all regions!

[–] zwerg@feddit.org 66 points 1 week ago

It might help a few people if you shared the domains you blocked.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I looked up the domains registered by logitech electronics and logitech corp.
Blocked the hell out of those.

In case anyone is interested: https://github.com/Appoxo/Ad-Spam-Blocklist/blob/master/hosts.txt

Forgive me for using GitHub

[–] postman@literature.cafe 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Are Logitech involved in this too?

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[–] lemmyout@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Logitech Electronics". Autocorrect?

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GN responded to their denial.

TL;DW: LG is using very weasely wording to misrepresent what they’re doing, and GN calls their bluff (with data and receipts)

[–] db2@lemmy.world 122 points 1 week ago

"We investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong." -LG

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 85 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Heres the thing. Its exceptionally easy to see where packets are going on most routers. IP to IP or otherwise.

So yeah, things are going out when you plug in an LG tv. So dont buy it.

[–] ShredderFeeder@shredderfood.net 32 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I have two of them...but I only use them for streaming from my plex server so they're completely isolated from the internet. As far as I'm concerned I'm happy if it never connects to the internet.

But no, next TV will most definitely not be an LG... Though I'm not sure what the options are, all TV's are smart TV's these days... Fuck it, maybe I'll just find a 65" dumb monitor and put it on the wall.

[–] 13igTyme@piefed.social 30 points 1 week ago

Apparently the TV searches for anything to connect to still send the data.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Here's the fun part. It doesn't matter. If it finds any open Wi-Fi then it will connect and upload. And it's constantly looking

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[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago (10 children)

I probably have to look at corporate monitors because those should include no bloatware (or spyware) because they arent subsidized by ads (hopefully)

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 48 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yet another company going "NO WE DIDN'T", expecting us to believe.

[–] pixiribbit@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Gamers Nexus: We've documented the entire process. There's irrefutable proof demonstrating that your TVs log conversations.

LG: Nuh-uh.

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[–] ptitfred@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

The response: "we hear you!"

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

There is also a response to that response up on Gamers Nexus and its something along the lines of: 🖕 + going through the legal agreements detailing what they (may) do with your data + more 🖕

[–] rounding_error@lemmy.today 42 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

(paraphrasing, but)

From just the BSSID these TVs are collecting they know your precise fucking location and can pinpoint it based on signal strength to the nearest street. WiFi Positioning System is cursed. Amazingly, BSSID can also tell you who the customer is based on “public” records since ISPs keep track of this kind of thing when they hand out free routers.

[–] HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org 39 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So, their fix for spying is gaslighting?

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 week ago

They're not trying to fix the spying, they're trying to fix the accountability.

[–] Jiral@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Always has been.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 39 points 1 week ago (4 children)

“We own the glass” is enough for me to never buy an LG again. I own two never contacted to the internet, but Jesus that’s gross.

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[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 38 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

One thing I think a lot of people tend to miss when dealing with executive interviews, PR statements, and company advertising is that often times how a company defines a given term and how the actual dictionary and everyone in the world defines that term are not the same thing unless it is legally required.

Textbook examples:

Telsa, Musk, and self driving: Musk and Tesla define it as essentially what everyone else called lane assist. Then they have "full self driving" for what is supposed to be the thing everyone else would think of as self driving.

OpenAI, Sam Altman, and AGI (artificial general intelligence): No one in the AI industry has an agreed upon definition of what AGI even means. The AI labs just throw it out there for hype and funding rounds and tweak the meaning to them as they need. To most normal people I would suspect AGI means "a machine that knows its a machine and is at least as smart as the average person".

Point being when LG says “ its TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” that can mean literally anything they can twist human communication methods to mean in their specific context. And it is usually the one that makes them the most money.

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

at least as smart as the average person.

Ooooh. So that's why they're eroding public education: to make AGI achievable sooner!

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[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

We investigated ourselves and found no wrong doing.

[–] the_q@piefed.social 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] prex@aussie.zone 29 points 1 week ago

They're sooo sorry

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

Nuh-uh! -LG

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

I personally have no misconceptions about the intrusive data collecting, aggregating, identifying and reselling that LG is doing with their residential customers via their televisions, nor about the entitled way LG and its corporate representatives and officers have spoken about their right to gather it.

"We own the glass," they repeat, as though that means they also own whatever is spoken beyond the glass in the same house. In reality, they own neither.

Nor am I misled by LG's weasel words that address problems not ever specifically raised, while completely swerving around actual problems publicly demonstrated with their products.

But I will say they are laboring under a serious misconception if they think I will ever buy one from them. They can fuck ALL the way off with that shit.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

LG released a statement in which it claims that its “TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,”

But with a 100 trigger words?

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

They stop recording for 12 minutes a day.

[–] RichardNixos@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

They only record 44100 times a second, which is discrete and not continuous

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[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They're adding a forced arbitration clause to their upcoming ToS, clearly the actions of innocent people

[–] The_Worst@feddit.nl 8 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Luckily forced arbitration is not legal in the EU.

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[–] Alpha71@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

"Nuh-uh" - LG

[–] protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"allegations"? the thing they state to do to in their EULA, privacy agrement and whatcer other garbage no one reads? what else now? google spies on you? apple spies on you? water is wet?

[–] Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago

Hearing about it is one thing. Seeing someone put it to the test and showing the extent of the surveillance and data harvesting is another.

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The response, "Look Bryan, you should be the last one to accuse anyone of terrible things when you just casually keep a vibrating replica of smurfette's genitals in your guest bedroom, in the bottom drawer of the left nightstand."

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[–] goatinspace@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago
[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

North Korea must be having a field day talking about what it sees as Southern chaebol capitalism hypocrisy.

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[–] inquanto@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have an LG C3 that I never connected to Wifi or plugged an ethernet cable into. I only use it with my nvidia shield running lineage OS, am I still affected by this / anything I should do?

[–] AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes you're still effected.

It's not unreasonable to assume it may have been connected to the internet unbeknownst to you if there's been an unsecured network close by that your tv could connect to.

An attacker could (and gamers Nexus demonstrated this) connect to your television and read transcripts of things you've said in your house when you didn't realise your tv was listening. If you've never used the voice recognition wake word around your tv you might be ok, but an attacker can also change the wake word to something you might casually say (they showed this too)

If you do own an LG tv it's worth watching the gamers Nexus video to fully be aware of what is happening.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Effect: a thing: particle effects, fireworks, special effects

Affect: something is changed: affected by politics, smoking in public affects others, affected by the amount of love from your parents

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