And why does the toxic channel even show up there as a default setting to begin with?
The issue
GB News is being promoted and shown, by default, on Samsung Smart TVs. It’s promoted as a ‘top 10 channel’ in the ‘news’ category (despite being officially classified as an ‘entertainment’ channel).
This issue was first flagged up by Stop Funding Hate supporters, who understandably did not want to be subjected to GB News’s notoriously hateful content.
The fix (short-term)
It is possible to remove GB News from Samsung TV Plus so that it won’t appear as a recommendation – it just takes a bit of work.
Follow these steps:
- Press the CH list button (standard remote) – or, on Smart remotes, press and hold the CH UP/DN buttons for a few seconds
- The Channel List feature will appear
- Choose ‘Edit Channels’ at the bottom of the screen
- In the Edit Channels page, choose ‘Samsung TV Plus’
- Under ‘Channels’, scroll down to find GB News (it’s channel 4326)
- Select the channel and press ‘Delete’
- Select ‘OK’ when prompted – and now GB News is gone from your recommendations
HOWEVER! Even after completing these steps, some users have still reported GB News appearing in their recommendations.
Ultimately, the responsibility rests with Samsung to stop promoting unabashedly partisan channels.
The bigger, better fix
Really, Samsung themselves should take the steps needed to stop GB News showing up as a recommendation on their Smart TVs. While it markets itself as a news channel, when challenged, it has defined its flagship politician-fronted content as “current affairs” rather than news — thus avoiding Ofcom’s stricter rules around who can present news programmes. GB News has also been repeatedly exposed for its partisan stance.
If enough people complain to Samsung, it’s possible that they will hear us and take action.
You can message Samsung’s customer support team through Facebook or Instagram, or direct via the Samsung website.