Is your Samsung TV spying on you? Researcher claims TVs secretly listen for barking dogs and crying babies
An independent security researcher known as @Log4j has alleged that Samsung Smart TVs may be secretly spying on users. The Daily Mail reports. The researcher claims that some Samsung TVs feature an ‘always-on microphone’ that can detect surrounding sounds. These reportedly include barking dogs and crying babies, which the researcher claims help the system build user profiles and show targeted ads.
The researcher also alleges that this data is shared with 400 third-party partners. Moreover, the researcher claims that the TV regularly scans the network using ARP probes to identify other connected devices in the household. These claims have sparked debate about data collection and household privacy.
turns out it classifies what audio it hears, before reporting back to samsung.
sensor preferences, dog-barking and baby-crying event counters, and camera streaming duration are built into telemetry paths. https://t.co/smUaqpXYB3 pic.twitter.com/rT3dinugiV
— log4j (@log4j) October 23, 2026
Suspiciously Targeted Advertisements
The investigation began when the researcher noticed several highly personalized advertisements on their TV. The unusually specific ads led the researcher to suspect that the TV was profiling the household. @Log4j then reportedly bypassed the television’s built-in AES encryption.
The researcher says they exploited unpatched security flaws to gain administrator-level access to the television’s system. They then began examining the television’s Tizen operating system. The researcher reported finding signs of data collection in the firmware’s logs and settings.
The most controversial allegation concerns the device’s audio monitoring system. According to the researcher’s analysis, Tizen uses region-specific convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to identify surrounding sounds. These are designed to categorize environmental sound variables.
The researcher claims that data counters tracked sounds such as crying babies and barking dogs. They allege that this information was used to show ads for ‘Pet Care’ and ‘Family Care’ products.
Samsung’s Response
However, privacy concerns remain. This controversy coincides with a major class-action privacy lawsuit filed against Samsung in California. The plaintiffs allege that Samsung uses ‘viewing information services’ (VIS) to collect, profit from and share real-time video and audio data across its services without users’ permission.
