A researcher who goes by log4j online says a 2025 Samsung TV running Tizen OS collects audio, screenshots and advertising data, and that the set uses artificial intelligence to profile what viewers watch. The findings, posted on X, center on the tester's own television and have not been independently confirmed. log4j described the discovery as a privacy horror and continued posting additional findings in a series of messages.
According to log4j, the TV's sluggish performance may stem from heavy post-processing of user data. The researcher points to audio, screenshots and AID, described as a cross-device tracking identifier for ads, along with computer vision processing and models running on the television itself. log4j also reports finding a region-specific convolutional neural network that tracks viewer behavior, citing examples such as which videos are watched, which ads are skipped and how far a video has progressed.
The tester further claims that TVs without microphones will seek out connected devices that have them, such as a soundbar or a connected Bluetooth device, in order to record audio. Hugging Face engineer ngxson said they planned to test that microphone behavior with a Flipper Zero, and observed the TV opening the microphone for five seconds before stopping. ngxson saw no further microphone activity hours later, but noted their Tizen TV was already rooted with multiple settings disabled, so an unmodified set may act differently.
log4j said they used OpenAI tools in the course of the work and were later banned by the company for cyber abuse, according to an email they received. The researcher disputed that characterization, saying the tools were used only for local reverse engineering, not to exploit or find vulnerabilities, and that no terms of use were violated. In a comment under the post about the ban, log4j said it appeared OpenAI's account action stemmed from a primitive classifier.
Samsung and Tizen are not alone in facing such allegations. The article notes that other brands, including LG, have also been accused of spying on customers. Many TV owners have separately reported their sets slowing down despite no new features or heavy apps, with bloatware suspected as the main cause, though the spying behavior log4j describes could also play a role.
log4j is preparing a comprehensive write-up of the findings that will include instructions on how others could conduct the same analysis. The researcher closed the post series with a joke that they had finally found a company that truly listens to its customers.
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