they stated it technical could. not that they have evidence of that happening.

Technically, they could do a whole bunch of things, including doing multihop routing via other connected televisions or insecure WiFi networks. There's no evidence that they do this, as far as I know, but also no reason why they couldn't do this in the future if they wanted to.

You're right. I think I conflated allegations in the comments with the actual claims made in the Youtube video.

GM did show that the devices scan for open wifi networks, and users in the comments have claimed that it connects without their permission.

Gamers nexus did not make that claim about them actually connecting though.

What about letting it connect to your Wi-Fi and blocking it via firewall? Does it try to find another network?