It’s not just LG. Every TV company is spying on you

Modern smart TVs are increasingly collecting user data through automatic content recognition systems to subsidize hardware costs. This practice, which involves tracking viewing habits to serve targeted ads, has raised significant privacy concerns among consumers.
Why it matters
Highlights the trade-off between affordable consumer electronics and personal data privacy in the modern digital economy.
The TV world has been a pot of controversy thanks to a two-hour-and-15-minute video from Gamers Nexus claiming LG TVs are nefariously spying on everything you do. They can record and store audio even when they seem to be off, track everything you watch, and could even be hacked remotely and turned into covert surveillance devices. LG TV owners, and tech enthusiasts in general, are furious, and a hurried response from LG has done little to calm the situation.
Some of the claims in the video may be based on speculation and assumptions, but many of the core concerns are real and pervasive. While LG was the focus of the video, every TV company is tracking what you do, collecting that data, and sharing it with its partners. And we agree to it — even if we don’t realize it.
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