In response, LG denied the claims in a statement titled “Understanding Privacy on LG Smart TVs” posted on its website and shared with news outlets.

LG says, “LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations. Speech‑to‑text processing begins only if a user activates a voice interaction through a supported wake‑word feature or by pressing the voice (or AI) button on the remote control. Audio used for wake‑word detection is processed locally on the TV and, if no wake word is detected, audio is not converted to text, stored, or transmitted.”

The company adds, “Speech‑recognition results may be used to support voice‑related features but are not uploaded later when the TV is offline or when connectivity is restored.” It also notes that the Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) feature, which learns viewing habits for recommendations, is optional.

These details show why consumers should check which voice‑activation and data‑collection features are turned on. Understanding that recordings only happen after a wake‑word or button press, and that optional features can be disabled, helps protect privacy while still using smart‑TV conveniences.