Ads and tracking infiltrated TVs. Now they’re coming for monitors.
Ars Technica warns that computer monitors, long recommended as a smart-TV alternative for privacy-conscious consumers, are increasingly adopting the same ad-serving and tracking practices that have plagued smart TVs. The concern was triggered by reports that some LG monitors quietly installed an app called LG Monitor App Installer onto connected PCs via disguised Windows Update driver updates, which then pushed pop-up ads, including for McAfee software. Microsoft has since forced LG to remove the McAfee ads, but the covert installation method and the app's broad system permissions remain troubling, especially as LG's privacy assurances leave room for future data collection.
Beyond the LG case, the article highlights a wider shift towards "smart monitors" that run their own operating systems and apps, much like smart TVs, making them capable of automatic content recognition (ACR) to track user activity. LG and Samsung's smart monitors reportedly use the same ad-driven OS platforms as their televisions, and reviewers such as RTINGS have demonstrated these tracking capabilities firsthand. Users of such devices face layered privacy risks from the monitor manufacturer, the OS provider (for example, Google on Android-powered models), and third-party apps like Netflix, all governed by dense and hard-to-parse privacy policies.
- LG monitors secretly installed ad-pushing software via fake driver updates
- Microsoft made LG remove the McAfee pop-up ads
- Smart monitors increasingly mirror smart TVs' ad-tracking capabilities
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Computer monitors used to be simple screens: they showed what a connected computer sent them. Newer “smart monitors” can run apps and connect to the internet on their own, much like smart televisions.
That can bring convenience, but it also creates ways to show adverts and collect information about what people watch or use. Some monitors use software platforms also found in televisions, where tracking features can recognise on-screen content.
The LG reports raise questions about how software and adverts reach a person’s computer, and what permissions that software has. Privacy can also depend on several companies, including the monitor maker, the platform provider and the apps installed on the device.