LG Electronicsâ latest $1,200 PC monitor model is really putting the âmonitorâ into âmonitoring users without their consent,â as the consumer electronics manufacturer has been forced to address complaints that the product is âwiretappingâ its owners and installing adware that advertises McAfee trials on usersâ PCs.

This follows a lengthy investigation into LGâs 34GX900A-B Ultra Gear monitor by Gamers Nexus, which was contacted by several of its viewers after reports started popping up online about the monitor automatically installing McAfee adware when connected to PCs.

Gamers Nexus was able to prove that simply hooking up the monitor to your computer results in the âLG Monitor App Installerâ being installed on that computer via Windows Update. As noted in its report, at no point in the process is the user informed that this program is being installed. Worse still, the LG Monitor App Installer is automatically granted access to âall system resourcesâ and âyour Internet connectionâ upon installation.

The program will also blast users with a âfree 30-day trialâ offer for McAfee, the antivirus company that, according to Security.org, âslows devices, collects extensive user data,â and, most heinously of all, âchanges [the] default search to Yahoo.â And it still gets worse from here. As Games Nexusâ investigation revealed, LGâs âconsent requirement,â which users automatically agree to when their monitor’s software is automatically updated, states that users must “notify household members and guests” that they may be recorded “in compliance with applicable wiretapping, eavesdropping, and privacy laws.”

honestly, fuck LG for adding these notifications at startup on their TVs. I had every option for promotions disabled in the system settings, but they added new ones through the built in apps. Iâll never ever own anything LG ever again. pic.twitter.com/dtRKWL2IE3

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) July 23, 2026

Surely, though, as long as you donât buy LGâs new $1,200 PC monitor and stick to its older models, this wonât be an issue, right? Nope. According to Gamers Nexusâ tests, it turns out that the LG Monitor App Installer is now installing itself via older LG monitors too.

And itâs not just Windows PCs that are getting bombarded with ads, as The Vergeâs Tom Warren stated on X that even though he âhad every option for promotions disabled in the system settingsâ on his LG TV, he still got a pop-up stating that he could âenjoy 15% off on every tripâ via the LG Travel+ app.

As a result of the backlash, LG issued a statement to TechRadar: âLG Electronics reiterates that McAfee is not installed automatically and is never installed without the userâs explicit consent. The LG Monitor App Installer is distributed through Microsoftâs official Windows distribution process, which included McAfee as an option. McAfee will be installed only if a user actively chooses to proceed with the installation and provides consent.â

The same statement also noted that LG âreaffirms that LG TVs do not collect, record, or store ambient conversationsâ and that the voice recognition feature is âan optional, user-initiated feature that processes voice data only when activated by the user to fulfill a specific request.â

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. Weâve connected with the team at LG and as an immediate next step, they have agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up from their app. We appreciate LG working with us toward a shared goal of a better experience for our mutual customers.â¦

— Pavan Davuluri (@pavandavuluri) July 22, 2026

However, as spotted by Windows Latest, the blowback surrounding all this also prompted a response from Microsoftâs executive vice president, Pavan Davuluri, on X. According to Davuluri, Microsoft âconnected with the team at LG and as an immediate next step, they have agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up from their app.â

Thereâs one pretty important thing that Iâve noticed is missing from any of this corpospeak nonsense: an actual apology. By which I mean both an apology from LG for installing adware on its consumersâ $1,200 machines, and one from Microsoft for enabling LG to do so by automatically installing it via Windows Update.