LG Electronics have turned their LG OLED TV’s with WebOS and so called Smart TV features into “mass surveillance systems,” with claims the South Korean Company who already has a questionable track record in Australia according to the ACCC secretly tracking analysing and then selling detailed information about what consumers watch inside their own homes.
In a lawsuit filed in the USA, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has accused the Company of using their WebOS smart TV software which uses a deliberately upgraded Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to monitor viewing activity across streaming services, broadcast television and even external devices such as gaming consoles and Blu-ray players — often without consumers’ informed consent.
“This isn’t a glitch or a side effect — it’s deliberate,” Paxton said in a statement. “LG harvests this data, builds profiles of consumers’ behaviour, and sells it for profit.”
‘Deceptive’ Consent and Dense Legal Jargon
According to the lawsuit, LG markets WebOS and its smart TV features as tools designed to enhance the viewing experience. Paxton alleges the reality is very different.
“When families buy a television, they don’t expect it to spy on them,” he said. “They don’t expect their viewing habits packaged and auctioned to advertisers.”
The Texas Attorney General claims LG “deceptively guides” users into enabling ACR technology during setup, while burying explanations of how the system works inside lengthy and complex legal disclosures.
“The so-called ‘consent’ LG relies on is meaningless,” Paxton said. “Disclosures are hidden, vague, and misleading. Consumers are stripped of real choice and kept in the dark about what’s happening in their own homes.”
When ChannelNews and SmartHouse first questioned the South Koreans’ questionable actions and their surveillance of Australian consumers the Companies Local Marketing Director Gemma Lemieux demanded that we take the story down claiming that it was “Inaccurate”, we refused.
She then banned both ChannelNews and SmartHouse.
Ironically LG Electronics local press releases were always late Vs their global press releases because of action taken by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission who forced the Company for several years to put all press releases, advertising statement and press statement through a lawyer because of previuusly dodgy statements made by LG Electronics Marketing Department and local management.
How ACR Works
Automatic Content Recognition operates by matching short digital “fingerprints” of on-screen content against a database — effectively functioning as a Shazam-style system for video.
But Paxton alleges LG’s version goes further, capturing screenshots of TV displays every 500 milliseconds, monitoring viewing activity in real time and transmitting that information back to the company.
An LG Ad Solutions website promotes the technology’s ability to allow advertisers to target users based on specific shows, networks, apps, genres and services. Because ACR works across all inputs, the lawsuit claims it can also identify purchases, subscriptions, gaming habits and user locations down to city or postcode level.
Global Implications and Australian Scrutiny
The lawsuit has renewed scrutiny of LG’s practices internationally, including in Australia, where have raised similar concerns during the past 18 months.
Questions are now being raised about whether Australian retailers could face exposure in potential class actions, with at least one law firm examining possible legal action.
Critics have also questioned why the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has not launched a formal investigation into WebOS, given that consumers must accept LG’s terms and conditions to operate their smart TVs.
Wider Crackdown on TV Manufacturers
Texas authorities are not limiting their action to LG. Paxton said his office is also examining data-collection practices at Samsung, Sony, Hisense and TCL.
He singled out Chinese-owned manufacturers Hisense and TCL, citing concerns over China’s National Security Law.
“These Chinese ties pose serious concerns about consumer data harvesting,” Paxton said, “and are exacerbated by laws that give the Chinese government the capability to access US consumer data.”
LG Yet to Respond in Detail
LG Electronics has not yet issued a detailed public response to the Texas lawsuit.
The company has previously maintained that consumers can disable ACR through TV settings, a claim the lawsuit disputes, alleging the process is intentionally confusing.
If successful, the Texas action could force significant changes to how smart TV manufacturers collect and monetise viewer data — and may trigger similar legal challenges in other jurisdictions.
Yesterday we revealed that LG management who control LG’s operations in Australia, openly claimed that the Company whose local CEO Dan Lim is facing serious allegations in the Federal Court and has been named in a Court case in New Zealand that resulted in a Dan Lim direct report pleading guilty to criminal charges ,after an investigation into whether Harvey Norman and LG Electonics conspired to fix TV prices, bragged about their plana to generate additional revenue from selling confidential data stripped from their TV’s and appliances.
Download full US claim by Texans Attorney General here.
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