LG rejects Gamers Nexus 'spy TV' claims, admits network scanning and standby wake-word listening

A two-hour Gamers Nexus investigation, conducted with security researchers MrBruh and uturn using packet captures and firmware analysis, alleges that LG smart TVs — some 216 million of them — constantly log and upload user data, scan local networks to fingerprint nearby devices like phones and printers, and record audio through onboard microphones even while powered off, caching it offline for later retrieval. LG has pushed back hard, telling Tom’s Hardware the claims are simply ‘not true.’

LG’s rebuttal is narrower than a blanket denial, however. The company says voice data is captured only when the remote’s voice button is held or the ‘Hi LG’ far-field wake word is detected after a user opts in, and it insists ambient conversations are never recorded or transmitted. It does concede two of the report’s points: its TVs scan the local network for other devices — which LG frames as standard smart-TV behavior — and they do monitor for the wake word in standby, though it claims that audio is processed on-device and deleted rather than sent to servers. LG also notes that Automatic Content Recognition is opt-in and not used for ads without consent.

Notably, LG left several of the harder allegations unaddressed, including the report’s claim that transcripts are stored in plaintext. Neither Tom’s Hardware nor any independent party has verified either side, leaving a familiar standoff between a consumer-advocacy investigation and a vendor’s carefully scoped denial — and community reaction is already split, with some viewers questioning how much weight to give Gamers Nexus’s increasingly adversarial reporting.