Why is Samsung banning certain smart TV apps, including a Pac-Man game?

Seeing 'the tv app' trending with Samsung banning apps that share your internet with strangers. What's actually going on, and should I be worried about my TV?

Norwegian cybersecurity firm Mnemonic published research in early August 2026 finding that several popular Samsung smart TV apps — including, notably, a simple Pac-Man game that Samsung itself had featured in its "Editor's Choice" section — contained hidden code turning the TV into a "residential proxy exit node." In practice, this means a stranger (often a company scraping data from websites) could route their own internet traffic through your home connection without your knowledge, making their activity look like it's coming from you — even after you've closed the app. Many of these apps are barely more than a shell that loads content from another server, which is part of why the hidden functionality wasn't obvious in a standard app review. After being contacted by TechCrunch, Samsung confirmed it's now blocking new app submissions containing this code and working to remove existing offending apps from its store; LG made a similar announcement for its own smart TV platform shortly before, after finding roughly 42% of apps in its store had similar issues. If you're concerned about your own TV, keep its software updated (Samsung will push removals through updates), and be cautious granting permissions to obscure or bare-bones smart TV apps, even ones your TV manufacturer has featured or endorsed.