Earlier quoted context omitted.
A picture on a TV screen didn’t use to spy on you...
That's not exactly true. Assuming you didn't mean TVs completely without any internet connection whatsoever then you'll find that pretty much since that ability was added there have been attempts by the very manufacturers to do just that. Vizio isn't the only one but here's an example: https://www.tomsguide.com/amp/us/vizio-ftc-smart-tv-spying-p... How-to disable additional snooping: https://www.consumerreports.org/p…
It’s way too early for this to be a reasonable assumption. The fact that they made that comment implies they are aware how widespread the is.