A reverse engineer has accused Samsung’s Tizen smart-TV software of collecting ambient audio and searching for connected devices that could act as microphones, including soundbars and Bluetooth hardware. The researcher, who uses the name “log4j,” said the findings came from examining a 2025 Samsung television after noticing advertisements they considered unusually relevant. Samsung has not publicly confirmed the allegations, and the claims have not been independently reproduced.
According to the researcher’s posts, a software component named csapi-tv-service-alwaysonvoice can classify sounds such as barking dogs and crying babies, maintain event counts and send related telemetry to Samsung. The researcher also claimed that televisions without built-in microphones look for compatible connected devices instead. Those findings should not be confused with Samsung’s documented AI features: the company says some AI-enabled TVs use on-device processing for Pet Care and Family Care functions that detect sounds such as barking or crying and generate alerts.
The broader privacy concern is better established. Samsung says its optional Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) feature creates signatures from TV viewing activity and may collect viewing history, time spent watching, device identifiers and IP addresses. The company’s ACR support documentation says the feature runs only after a user opts in and can be disabled through the TV’s settings. Independent researchers at University College London, however, found that ACR traffic on tested Samsung and LG televisions could operate while the sets displayed content from HDMI-connected devices; their 2024 study reported that opting out stopped the observed ACR network traffic.
Regulators and litigants have also challenged how viewing data is collected and disclosed. In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an agreement requiring Samsung to obtain Texans’ express consent before collecting or processing ACR viewing data and to provide clearer consent screens. The Texas announcement does not establish that Samsung used ACR to record ambient conversations, nor does it validate the researcher’s claims about always-on audio.
Owners concerned about the allegations should review their TV’s Privacy Choices and disable Viewing Information Services, interest-based advertising and voice-recognition features where available. Samsung’s privacy-settings guidance describes controls for withdrawing consent and disabling audio-recording and voiceprint-review options. Disconnecting the television from Wi-Fi is a more definitive way to block cloud telemetry, but it also removes internet-connected TV features. At present, there is no publicly disclosed CVE, vendor security advisory or confirmed exploitation report tied to the alleged audio-collection behavior.
