Samsung TV telemetry claims raise fresh privacy questions
A researcher’s telemetry claims raise questions about Samsung’s pet-care sensing, connected microphones and data handling.
Samsung TVs are at the centre of new privacy questions after a security researcher published claims about sound-related telemetry in the company’s Tizen software. The claims, reported by Notebookcheck, concern a 2025 Samsung TV and should not be treated as proof that every model is secretly recording conversations.12
The researcher, who posts as log4j on X, says Samsung’s telemetry contains counters for dog-barking and baby-crying events under the EV201/SOUNDSENSOR_ON event. The reported data also includes fields related to ambient light, camera state and camera-streaming duration. Notebookcheck says the information is sent as key-value data to one of Samsung’s cloud servers, but the available evidence does not establish exactly how the counters are used or whether an alert was shown to the owner.1
Samsung does publicly advertise Pet Care and Family Care features for its 2025 Vision AI TVs. According to the company’s official product page, those features use on-device AI to detect events such as barking or crying and can send alerts through SmartThings. Samsung’s page says Pet Care works while the TV is switched off, but the researcher’s interpretation raises a separate question about what event counters are transmitted and retained.13
The more striking claim concerns TVs without a built-in microphone. Notebookcheck reports that log4j believes some sets may look for a connected device with a microphone, such as a soundbar or Bluetooth speaker. That part remains unconfirmed: the researcher’s own notes reportedly say the counters do not prove that an alert was displayed, while another user observed a rooted Tizen TV opening a microphone briefly before going quiet. A stock retail television could behave differently from a modified test device.1
The researcher has also claimed that the TV loads a region-specific neural network capable of tracking activity inside apps, including whether adverts are skipped. A promised longer write-up had not been published when Notebookcheck reported the story, leaving important questions about the model, the data flow and the scope of affected devices unresolved.1
Samsung has not commented on the claims in the source report. Its official Vision AI page instead highlights Samsung Knox as a privacy and security layer for supported Tizen TVs, while also noting that features and availability vary by model and region.3 That distinction matters: Samsung’s public description confirms the existence of AI sensing and privacy controls, but it does not independently verify the researcher’s interpretation of the telemetry.
Our opinion
The credible story here is not that Samsung TVs have been proven to hijack soundbars. It is that a researcher has identified telemetry whose purpose and boundaries are not yet clear, at a time when TVs are increasingly marketed as AI assistants. Samsung should explain what EV201/SOUNDSENSOR_ON records, when it is generated, whether connected microphones can be queried, and how long the associated data is retained. Until those questions are answered, owners should treat the claims as an open investigation rather than a settled finding.
1 Notebookcheck reports the researcher’s claims, the limits of the available evidence and the lack of a Samsung response. 2 The researcher’s X posts are the primary material cited by Notebookcheck. 3 Samsung’s official Vision AI TV page describes Pet Care, Family Care, Samsung Knox and model or region limitations.