Apparently, nothing is sacred anymore when it comes to privacy. While fears of smartphones and other personal devices secretly listening to conversations or collecting user data have been around for years, these concerns have now supposedly reached another device in your household: your smart TV.
A cybersecurity researcher claims that Samsung smart TVs collect extensive user data for targeted advertising, including audio, screenshots, and viewing activity. The researcher uncovered these findings while investigating why their 2025 Samsung TV was displaying unusually specific advertisements.
Alleged Screen And Audio Captures, As Well As AI Involvement
The researcher, who goes by the name log4j, reverse-engineered Samsung’s Tizen operating system and found code that appeared to track user behaviour, including which videos they watched, which advertisements they skipped, and their playback progress. They also identified an AI model that could help analyse this information, alongside a cross-device identifier used for advertising purposes.
They also found code that could potentially use connected devices with microphones, such as soundbars and Bluetooth devices, to capture audio. However, these findings have yet to be independently confirmed, and they do not necessarily establish that every Samsung TV continuously records users.
It should be mentioned that the researcher used OpenAI’s tools to help reverse-engineer the TV’s software. However, this led to the AI firm banning their account for alleged cyber abuse, a decision the researcher disputed, claiming the tools were only used for local reverse-engineering work rather than exploiting vulnerabilities.
LG Has Also Faced Privacy Concerns
Samsung is not the first TV maker to face such accusations. Fellow South Korean brand LG has also faced scrutiny over data collection on its smart TVs, but denied that its televisions continuously record or transmit conversations.
In an official statement, LG explained that its Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) feature identifies content through audio fingerprinting rather than capturing screenshots or video recordings. The feature is optional and disabled by default, while users can manage their privacy and advertising preferences through their TV settings.
And it’s not just their TVs either. Earlier this year, reports from Gamers Nexus highlighted how certain LG monitors could silently install software on Windows PCs and display McAfee promotional pop-ups without users explicitly initiating the installation. Microsoft later confirmed that LG had agreed to disable the pop-up in its monitor app.
(Source: log4j, via Tom’s Hardware)
