LG says its Smart‑TV ACR records only audio and limits capture to 18 seconds

On 15 September 2026 LG issued a public statement that its Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) system on Smart‑TVs records only audio, not video, and that the audio capture window lasts a maximum of 18 seconds after a user activates the microphone. The company also says the raw audio is hashed on‑device and the hashes – not the recordings – are sent to LG’s servers, after which the original audio is deleted locally.

Audio‑only capture confirmed

The German tech outlet Heise reports that LG “nutzt für ACR nach eigenen Angaben ausschließlich Audio‑Schnipsel, also keine Videoaufnahmen.” This directly addresses the core privacy criticism that the ACR system might be taking screenshots of on‑screen content. By limiting itself to audio snippets, LG removes the video‑based privacy risk that had been raised by the Gamers Nexus investigation.

Capture window and activation triggers

According to the same Heise article, the ACR system is only triggered when the user presses the microphone button on the remote or says the wake‑word “Hi LG”. Once triggered, the TV records ambient sound for up to 18 seconds – the maximum duration stated by LG. Researchers from Gamers Nexus had previously estimated the window at 10‑15 seconds; LG’s figure therefore extends the post‑activation period by a few seconds. If no further voice input is received, the session ends after 10 seconds, as LG notes.

Hash‑only transmission and local deletion

Heise also quotes LG’s technical description that “die erfassten Audioschnipsel würden … als Hashes verarbeitet und verschickt.” In practice this means the TV runs a one‑way hash function on each audio snippet, creates a short, irreversible digest and sends only that digest to LG’s cloud services. The raw audio files are then deleted from the device, ensuring that no unencrypted recordings remain on the TV or are stored by the company.

Company context and financial backdrop

LG Group, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is listed on the NYSE under the ticker LPL. The latest publicly filed figures – from the 2009 20‑F – show net income of $954.5 million, total assets of $16.95 billion, shareholders’ equity of $8.55 billion and 357.8 million shares outstanding. While these numbers are historic, they illustrate the scale of the conglomerate that now faces heightened scrutiny over its consumer‑facing data practices.

LG Group financial snapshot (2009 fiscal year)

Metric	Value	Unit	Period
Net income	954,476,000	USD	2009
Total assets	16,946,343,000	USD	2009
Shareholders’ equity	8,554,065,000	USD	2009
Shares outstanding	357,815,700	shares	2009
Source: LG 20‑F filing, 9 June 2010 (SEC)

Implications for users and regulators

The clarification matters for owners of LG Smart‑TVs, privacy‑focused NGOs and regulators monitoring consumer‑tech data practices. By confirming that no video is captured and that only hashed audio is transmitted, LG reduces the risk of reconstructing a user’s in‑home conversations. However, the 18‑second audio window still means that brief snippets of ambient speech are collected whenever the wake‑word is used.

Regulators in the EU and South Korea have previously signalled that continuous audio listening without clear consent would breach privacy law. LG’s statement that the TV “does not continuously listen to, record, or store conversations in the home” aligns with those expectations, but the company has not disclosed whether any third‑party analytics receive the hashes.

What remains unknown

LG did not disclose the specific hash algorithm, the retention period for the hashes on its servers, or whether the hashes are combined with other data sources for profiling. The statement also does not address whether the ACR system can be disabled entirely by the user, beyond simply not pressing the microphone button.

Future scrutiny will likely focus on these gaps, especially as privacy watchdogs compare LG’s approach with that of competitors such as Apple, whose recent Siri Recap feature explicitly promises “no raw audio storage”. Until LG provides more technical detail, the assurance of “audio‑only, hashed, and deleted” remains the most concrete information available.