I asked every TV manufacturer 17 questions about how they spy on you

After LG was accused of spying through its TVs, I wanted to see how other TV companies were collecting and protecting our data.

by John HigginsNov 11, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC John Higgins is a senior reviewer covering TVs and audio. He has over 20 years experience in AV, and has previously been on staff at Digital Trends and Reviewed.

Every TV company is spying on you, not just LG. Like other tech companies, they collect lots of information, and while some is necessary for products to work, not all of it is — and could include details you’d prefer to keep private. Many customers are concerned about how TVs and streaming devices might be spying: listening to what you say, taking screenshots of everything you watch, storing sensitive information on your TV, and sharing your data with the cloud.

To find out what TV and streaming device companies are doing, I decided to ask every one to explain itself. I put together 17 yes-or-no questions, like “Do your TVs store any recorded audio, or transcripts based on audio, captured in the home?” so that companies couldn’t just link to a confusing and legalese-ridden privacy policy. TV users deserve to know the answers.

Company representatives providing responses

Amazon: Eric Sveum, PR manager

Apple: Emily Ewing, public relations manager

Google: Alex García-Kummert, spokesperson

LG Electronics: Chris De Maria, director of public relations

Roku: Sarah Novatt, spokesperson

Samsung: Frank Giancamilli, corporate communications senior manager

TCL: Rob Manfredo, head of communications and events

One month ago, I invited 11 companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Hisense, LG, Panasonic, Roku, Samsung, Sony, TCL, and Walmart’s Vizio to share those answers. We now have answers from the top three TV manufacturers as well as every major streaming device company. Some companies declined to answer. Below, you can see and compare how each company answered (or failed to answer) each question and then decide how you feel. (One company, Hisense, ignored our emails entirely.)

As you’ll see them say, some of this data collection is opt-in, and you can often opt out. We know that many TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR) to figure out potentially everything we’re watching, and use that information to tailor ads, gather audience metrics, and serve up content recommendations based on our viewing habits. But though it sometimes seems like it’s required during the cavalcade of agreements thrown at us during setup, you can generally stop ACR even after you’ve agreed to it.

Opting out might not be as effective as it should be, however. A recent Northeastern University study found that Walmart’s Vizio kept on sending data after an opt-out (Vizio told me it was “routine operational data used to support the Vizio experience,” not ACR), while traffic with both Samsung and Roku was limited, but not stopped completely.

Below are the answers to our 17 questions. You will notice that some companies would not answer yes or no. We’ve also noted where companies declined to answer at all or ignored the questions. If any company becomes willing to directly answer our questions, we’ll add their responses.

1. Do your TVs ever use their embedded microphones, or the microphones in their remotes, to listen to sound in a customer’s home?

No. Fire TV includes voice functionality to help customers use their devices and get to content they love and fast, not to surveil homes. The microphones on our voice remotes are designed to only work when the mic button on the remote is physically pressed. And TVs with hands-free Alexa are designed to detect the wake word (and only the wake word) before connecting to Alexa. No audio is stored or sent to the cloud unless the device detects the wake word. Customers can also turn off the microphones at any time. Every Fire TV smart television that has microphones also has a physical button or switch that disables the microphone.

Apple TV 4K will use its far-field microphones and the Always On Processor strictly to listen for the Siri wake word. The Always On Processor does not process or act on any other sounds in the home. Users have full control over this and can turn off “Siri” or “Hey Siri” as a wake word, or disable Siri entirely. When using the Siri Remote, users must actively press and hold the microphone button for it to start listening.

If Google Assistant or Gemini is enabled or available, microphones (built-in hands-free ‘Hey Google’ or remote push-to-talk button) listen for activation triggers. Microphones remain in passive standby until triggered by hotword or button press.

Hisense did not respond to The Verge’s questions despite five attempts to make contact.

Voice recognition is off by default and operates only if the user has opted in by accepting the Voice Information Agreement. Even if the user has opted in, they need to take additional steps for the microphone to be used. They must either press the microphone button on the remote control or they can use Hands-free Voice Control on supported models.

Hands-free Voice Control is disabled unless a user opts into this feature and then uses a wake-word. Wake-word detection is performed locally on the TV. If no wake word is detected, the audio is processed locally, promptly deleted, and is not stored, converted to text, or transmitted.

Panasonic:

Panasonic did not provide an answer to this question.

While Roku TVs don’t have built-in microphones, some Roku remotes do. Standard voice remotes listen only while the mic button is held, and hands-free remotes can be switched off.

No, for private monitoring. Samsung TVs do not listen to or record private conversations.

The TV’s embedded microphone only listens locally for the specific wake-up word (like “Hi, Bixby”) and ignores all other sounds, while the remote control microphone only activates when the customer physically presses the button.

Sony did not provide an answer to this question.

Some TCL TVs and remotes have microphones. Users can activate those microphones to use voice assistance features provided through third-party operating systems or applications. Those third parties control whether the voice features are available and how they are used, under their own terms and privacy policies.

Vizio did not provide an answer to this question.

2. Do your TVs store any recorded audio, or transcripts based on audio, captured in the home?

Apple did not provide a direct answer to this question.

[Recorded audio and/or transcripts based on audio are] stored only if ‘Voice & Audio Activity’ (VAA) is explicitly enabled under Google Account Web & App Activity. Voice & Audio Activity is off by default. If VAA is off, voice requests are processed in real-time and not saved to the Google Account.

Hisense did not respond to The Verge’s questions despite five attempts to make contact.

If voice recognition is enab

Source: www.theverge.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.