DO NOT BUY: LG’s Spyware TVs, Monitors, and Wiretapping Concerns
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters cite it as the detailed, hands-on documentation of LG's silent Windows Update installs and the questionable consent and wiretapping terms, linking it from several LG and smart TV threads.
Recommended by 3 people across 2 different months, 2026 to 2026.
What it is
Gamers Nexus investigates LG monitors and TVs that pulled in a bundled app loaded with McAfee adware through a Windows Update, with no consent prompt. The video also covers the permissions the software requests and LG's smart TV terms, which tell owners to warn guests about voice-capture microphones. The hosts replicated the behavior on LG monitors of various ages, including one they bought and returned.
What people said
Strong rec roscas · 2026-07 · Hacker News · on “LG ThinQ Terms of Use”
Quick fix, remove networking access for all devices, not just LG devices. But since you did that remotely, you probably do that from a "smart" phone. That one is worst than this LG device. Have you read terms of service of Android devices? Windows? Apple? Microsoft like Gamers Nexus show on the video, writes down that this practices are malware and illegal and does exact the same thing. Gamers Nexus amazing review of that LG [this video]
Recommends garciansmith · 2026-07 · Hacker News · on “LG monitors installing adware on Windows PCs”
The author of this article is way too kind to LG. They write: "I think the terms and conditions are an attempt at corporate ass-covering rather than something sinister: the preceding paragraph talks specifically about when 'a product with voice recognition functionality is used' and it's possible that 'family members, guests, children, and bystanders" might be overheard; if you're choosing to activate AI-based voice features then of course voices are going to be captured and processed in order for those features to work.'" All of this is sinister. Opting you in by default to being spied upon is sinister. Using Windows updating mechanisms to automatically install adware is sinister. Designing
Recommends forix · 2026-10 · Hacker News · on “People sick of being spied on by their smart TV”
For those who may not have seen this yet, Gamers Nexus did a series of videos on LG monitors and TVs [this video]
Cites devttyeu · 2026-07 · Hacker News · on “LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent”
This is so much worse that the title makes it out to be: 1. Your OS installs malware (technically manufacturers software) from a 3rd party vendor in background, zero user interaction 2. Happens as soon as you or anyone with physical access plug in a device into the HDMI port 3. That malware has internet and full system access, no sandboxing 4. It starts with every system boot 5. This software gets installed when you plug in a new LG monitor 6. OR ALREADY HAD AN OLDER LG MONITOR PLUGGED IN, BECAUSE LG APPARENTLY ROLLED THIS OUT FOR MANY OLDER MODELS TOO!! 7. And yes, if you think that's horrendous, as mentioned in the video below, that also applies to 'Professional' LG monitors! This situatio
Cites spicyjpeg · 2026-08 · Hacker News · on “Stopping the smart TV from being used against you”
This is indeed what is happening behind the scenes. By default Windows Update will automatically download and install support packages for pretty much any device Windows can identify through manufacturer/device IDs, which includes PCIe and USB devices but also monitors. This is most commonly used to deliver drivers but Microsoft allows these packages to silently install any user-facing application as well, presumably due to peripherals such as GPUs or audio chipsets often requiring "control panels" or similar companion apps. Around a month ago LG took advantage of this feature by publishing a Windows "driver" for all their TVs and monitors that consisted entirely of payola bloatware, resulti
Critical lovich · 2026-07 · Hacker News · on “LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps”
[this video] A tech YouTuber showing this off and all the anti consumer behavior. I’m assuming this threads article is for an LG PR piece trying to redirect anger at the app developers to hide the fact that they are engaged in the same behavior themselves.