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This has been mentioned in so many comments and there isn't a shred of evidence about it

It seems to be misconstruing the fact that TVs will scan nearby networks for fingerprinting, but they don't _connect_ to those networks. It would be very very easy for someone to reproduce if they did

Agreed that the fact that the capability exists is bad.

That said, open networks have become a bit of a rarity; the only ones I can see are captive portal networks, and none of those from my home.

Wasn't there some issues with TVs in the past that filled up their drives with this data and would then crash or otherwise not work?

I have a recent 60ish inch LG OLED that's not been connected to the internet AFAICT for over a year. It's not connected to a LAN and it's not configured for any WiFi network. I have never connected it to the internet at all. It's working like a champ. No crashes or other issues. I treat it as a dumb monitor. HDMI in, optical out for audio to my stereo.