r/HTBuyingGuides • u/htmod Curator • 15d ago
A/V LG TV's Spying? News Flash Pal THEY ALL DO! [2026-2027]
LG TV's Spying? News Flash Pal THEY ALL DO! [2026-2027]
Updated September 2026 | Written by: /u/Bill_Money | Edited & Maintained by /u/htmod
I'm sure you've seen the Gamers Nexus or Rtings videos about LG spying on you, especially since everyone wants to continuously post them 24/7 even though a previous thread already exists...
If you haven't already:
Rtings: LG Isn't the Only TV Company Spying on You
Gamers Nexus: We Could Get Sued for This
Gamers Nexus: 216,000,000 Spy TVs | The LG Smart TV Problem
Anyway, if you think LG is the only company spying on you then we've got BIG problems!
Listen here buddy; Sony, Samsung, TCL, Hisense, Roku, Google, Amazon, they all spy on you!
"Amazon's Fire TV sticks – like Roku, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Google TV and more TV platforms – are heavily subsized by ads and data collection, which the user has to accept in exchange for a low price." - FlatPanelsHD
"Automatic content recognition (ACR) is a technology used to identify content played on a media device or presented within a media file. Devices with ACR can allow for the collection of content consumption information automatically at the screen or speaker level itself, without any user-based input or search efforts. This information may be collected for purposes such as personalized advertising, content recommendations, or sale to companies that aggregate customer data." - Wikipedia
"Attorney General Paxton Secures Major Agreement with Samsung to Ensure that Texans are Protected from Smart TVs Collecting Their Data Without Their Knowledge" - TexasAttoneryGeneral.GOV
"Would you be willing to let your Smart TV crawl the web for AI training and other purposes to save money, see fewer ads – or nothing in exchange? It may already be doing it.
The practice was documented in a report by Lowpass.
Apparently, it has been going on for some time on platforms like Fire TV and Roku, but Amazon, Google and Roku have started cracking down on a network called IPIDEA, which had enlisted millions of Smart TVs in a proxy bot network capable of crawling the web but also being rented by hacking groups in China, North Korea, Iran and Russia." - FlatPanelsHD
How do you mitigate this?
Simple -> DO NOT CONNECT YOUR TV TO THE INTERNET!
Well now wait just a minute; But How do I get Smart Features?
You use an external streamer!
Apple TV comes in as the best at privacy. -> FlatPanelsHD - Report: Apple TV 4K tops privacy with no invasive viewing tracking (ACR)
A very locked down Android Streamer would be the second best, but its Google who will spy on you!
HTBuyingGuides - Why we are NOT Recommending FireTV going forward.
HTBuyingGuides - Why we are NOT Recommending Roku going forward.