--- title: LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs... description: LG Electronics USA has announced it will suspend smart TV apps on its webOS platform that include residential proxy SDKs, following research by security firm... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security | daily.dev og:description: LG Electronics USA has announced it will suspend smart TV apps on its webOS platform that include residential proxy SDKs, following research by security firm... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/qp1QCro4m.png og:image:alt: LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security **[Krebs on Security](https://daily.dev/sources/krebsonsecurity)** · 4 min read · 4 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary LG Electronics USA has announced it will suspend smart TV apps on its webOS platform that include residential proxy SDKs, following research by security firm Spur revealing that over 42% of LG smart TV apps secretly turn televisions into always-on proxy nodes. Developers who fail to remove the residential proxy option will have their apps suspended. Spur's research also found similar issues on Samsung's Tizen platform, with Bright Data identified as the dominant proxy SDK provider across both platforms. The core concern is that consumers are unknowingly having their devices enrolled as proxy nodes through buried consent prompts, often in simple apps like games and screensavers. Separately, LG also faced criticism for bundling McAfee promotional software in LCD monitor drivers delivered via Windows Update. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 921 comments across hackernews, lobsters (as of 2026-07-27). **TL;DR:** The community is largely critical of LG (and Samsung) for bundling adware/spyware in their TVs and monitors, with the dominant advice being to keep smart TVs off the network and use an external streaming device; a parallel heated debate emerged about whether Windows's auto-driver-install mechanism or LG is more to blame. **Sentiment:** 10% positive · 40% mixed · 50% skeptical **The case for** - LG OLEDs offer arguably the best picture quality available, making them worth buying if kept offline - WebOS is considered more usable than Samsung's or Sony's TV OS - Using an external device like Apple TV or Roku alongside an offline TV provides a clean, private experience - LG TVs support local control and Home Assistant integration reasonably well **The pushback** - LG installs adware/McAfee-style crapware via Windows Update's driver companion app mechanism when monitors are connected - Smart TVs from all major brands (LG, Samsung, Sony) are loaded with ads and tracking when connected to the internet - Samsung has its own issues: no Dolby Vision, judder problems, OTA nerfs, HDMI failures, and ads on the dashboard - Configuring an LG TV to suppress ads/tracking requires 30+ minutes of Googling obscure settings - LG provides little to no major software updates for older TV models - OLED burn-in remains a concern for some users, especially with second-hand panels **By community** - hackernews (mixed): Commenters are split between praising LG OLED picture quality and condemning the adware/tracking behavior, with a lively side-debate about Windows's role in auto-installing driver companion apps vs. Linux's model. - lobsters (mixed): No comments were available to assess Lobsters' take. **Hottest debate:** Whether Windows Update's automatic installation of LG's driver companion apps (and Microsoft's permissive vetting) is as culpable as LG itself for the adware situation. **Open questions** - Will Microsoft tighten vetting of driver companion apps submitted via Windows Update after this incident? - Is there a clean, fully private TV setup that doesn't require sacrificing picture quality or using workarounds? - How long do LG OLED TVs realistically receive software/security updates? **Highlights** > The monitors aren't installing anything. That headline was a lie. It's Windows Update that's installing LG crapware upon seeing relevant hardware IDs. That's why the problem affected older monitors too - it's the update side that suddenly started to ship malware. > — [TeMPOraL on hackernews · 3 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002599) > > It's Windows Update that's installing LG crapware upon seeing relevant hardware IDs This is also a misrepresentation. Microsoft has provided LG with a certificate to sign its driver packages with, and allows LG to upload packages to Windows Update, which includes a feature to install sidecar applications. Now, the spirit of this feature is that any application is meant to provide genuine configuration functionality or some graphical front end to the driver's configuration knobs. LG then abused that feature to provide adware. Now, there are millions of hardware vendors. One can't expect that every driver package submission from every vendor is thoroughly vetted every time, this is a matter of trust and respect. Sometimes one actually wants the app that comes with the device, like AMD's and NVIDIA's configuration trays. Even so, I fully expect that after this debacle MS will disable this stuff. There is precedent for this. Synaptics/ELAN/Alps touchpad tray applications largely disappeared after MS implemented precision touchpads somewhere in 2015, and suddenly Windows touchpads became as precise as those on Macs. Likewise with RGB peripherals. Even GPU driver applications have increasingly become less useful as the most important features—power control, adaptive sync, HDR, etc have moved into native Windows settings. > — [delta\_p\_delta\_x on hackernews · 10 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002681) > Unfortunately they make arguably the best OLEDs and webOS is pretty decent to use (especially compared to the terrible OS that Samsung and Sony run). I think the best thing people can do is update their firmware then disconnect it from the internet. Using an AppleTV or similar provides a better experience than any TVs built in apps anyway. > — [smcleod on hackernews · 8 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49001648) > Samsung is good, except: - No Dolby Vision support, only HDR10+ - Issues with judder/micro stutter - History of nerfing TVs via OTA updates - HDMI ports randomly failing - Bad HDMI-CEC implementation - Selling completely different panel generations under the exact same model names. > — [dodslaser on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002015) > I have mine attached to the internet, but it does take a good 30 minutes plus Googling to find out all the places that you have to turn stuff off. > — [Angostura on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49003932) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000864) · 423 points · 905 comments - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/ny0yzm/lg_ban_residential_proxies_from_smart_tv) · 94 points · 16 comments ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ksolomon** · 0 upvotes > Like the old saying goes, "if it's free, you're the product". > > > Byzantine EULAs have trained people to just click accept and not worry about these things... **@trevorsuna** · 0 upvotes > Burying proxy enrollment inside a TV app consent screen is way over the line. LG banning the SDKs is a good start, but users also need a clear way to see whether their TV was already acting as a proxy. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The smart TV in your living room is training AI - here's how to stop it](https://daily.dev/posts/the-smart-tv-in-your-living-room-is-training-ai---here-s-how-to-stop-it-qcjdsyvod) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stopping the smart TV from being used against you](https://daily.dev/posts/stopping-the-smart-tv-from-being-used-against-you-b1xuucq0q) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m"},"datePublished":"2026-07-22T01:24:11.306Z","dateModified":"2026-07-27T12:49:21.600Z","description":"LG Electronics USA has announced it will suspend smart TV apps on its webOS platform that include residential proxy SDKs, following research by security firm...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c923635e4d630e177aa2ba968ba4b78b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c923635e4d630e177aa2ba968ba4b78b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Krebs on Security","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Krebs on Security","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/deb3e417ddef4d0e8cc4d704becf6004","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/krebsonsecurity"},"commentCount":2,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}],"keywords":"iot","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Krebs on Security","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/krebsonsecurity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps-krebs-on-security-qp1qcro4m","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Like the old saying goes, “if it’s free, you’re the product”.\nByzantine EULAs have trained people to just click accept and not worry about these things…","datePublished":"2026-07-22T03:05:21.417Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/qp1QCro4m#c-gFQKu49Ep","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Keith Solomon","url":"https://daily.dev/ksolomon","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/251996?v=4"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Burying proxy enrollment inside a TV app consent screen is way over the line. LG banning the SDKs is a good start, but users also need a clear way to see whether their TV was already acting as a proxy.","datePublished":"2026-07-22T02:44:04.792Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/qp1QCro4m#c-kbp1vzfYi","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Trevor Suna","url":"https://daily.dev/trevorsuna","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--dZ7gXxpp--/f_auto/v1784081551/avatars/avatar_EMoP47rpuw8DNjhp6R1b6?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}]} ```