A woman in Las Vegas, Nevada, noticed a troubling feature in her smart TV. Multiple times, she noticed that her music would suddently stop when she left the living room. She would then be prompted with a message asking if she was still there, which raises multiple questions and privacy concerns.
Valerie, also known as v_rose_art, shared this eyebrow-raising moment on TikTok. She is a content creator who uploads a variety of videos, including vlogs, trends, and selfies. This time around, her clip went viral, becoming her biggest one to date. It garnered 702,500 views, 89,700 likes, and more than 3,400 comments.
The Nevada woman began her video by saying that she was “creeped out” after what she had witnessed in her living room. Valerie detailed that, right before she started recording, she was listening to music via the Pandora app on her TV.
Are You Still Listening?
Suddenly, things changed, and a message on her TV popped up.
“Are you still listening?” the message read. “We pay for each song we play, so we try not to play to an empty room.”
Valerie went on to select the “Keep listening” option and walked away to demonstrate what she was experiencing. She stepped away from the TV, almost leaving the living room. While her TV was playing a commercial, the playback suddenly stopped after a few seconds. Once she returned, the same message was displayed.
“How do they know the room’s empty?” the Nevada woman asked. “Who the [expletive] is watching me on the other side of this TV? Like how, how do they know it’s empty? My house is kind of big. I’m all over the house. So I have this on full blast so I can listen, and it won’t play because I’m not in the room. How the [expletive] does it know I’m not in the room? Someone tell me.”
Reactions
While the sudden playback stop could be explained by sensors that some modern smart TVs could be equipped with, many online still found the behavior troubling. One said, “I put tape over my devices. My kids laugh at me.” Another one commented, “I’d be unplugging that TV immediately.”
Others believed that something should be done to block this feature for good. One wrote, “You can sue them for this.” Another one agreed, adding, “Get that money!“
Valerie could be seen enjoying her TV in a later clip posted on her TikTok. It is unclear if the issue persists.
