Samsung Smart TV Tracking: What a Rooted TV Revealed and How to Turn It Off

In posts starting on October 21, 2026, a security researcher known online as log4j said he had gained root access to a 2025 Samsung smart TV and found software built to track far more than what is on the screen. He started looking after the TV kept showing ads that seemed oddly specific to his household.

These are one researcher's findings, documented with screenshots of the code. They have not been reproduced on an unmodified TV, and Samsung has not publicly responded. But the kind of tracking he describes is not new: TV viewing data has already led to a federal settlement and, this year, a state agreement with Samsung itself. This post separates what is claimed from what is established, and shows how to turn the tracking off.

What the researcher says he found

Samsung's TV software (Tizen) ships encrypted, so he says he used previously unknown flaws (zero-days) to open a root shell rather than reading the firmware directly. In his posts he listed:

• Automatic content recognition (ACR): identifying what is playing on the screen.
• Screenshot handling, geolocation and network mapping: the TV looking at what it shows, where it is, and what else is on the home network.
• A targeted advertising service and user profile building, with an advertising identifier that can link the TV to other devices.
• A model that tracks viewing habits: which videos play, which ads are skipped and how far a viewer gets through a title.
• Audio features: an "always-on voice" component and events logged from sound, with access to microphones on connected soundbars or Bluetooth devices.

The audio claims are the least proven. Another engineer who tested a rooted set reported the microphone opening for about five seconds and then stopping, and a TV that has not been modified could behave differently.

What is already established, without any hacking

ACR is a standard smart TV feature. It samples what is on screen, turns it into a fingerprint and matches it against a database, so the manufacturer knows what you are watching, whether from a streaming app, a cable box or a game console. Samsung calls its version Viewing Information Services.

Regulators have acted on it before:

• 2017, Vizio: the FTC said Vizio used ACR on more than 11 million TVs to collect second-by-second viewing data, plus IP addresses and nearby Wi-Fi access points, without consent. Vizio paid $2.2 million and had to get viewers' permission.
• February 26, 2026, Samsung: the Texas Attorney General secured an agreement under which Samsung must stop collecting ACR viewing data from Texans without their express consent and add clear consent screens to its TVs. Texas also sued other major TV makers over the same practice.

So the open question raised by the new research is not whether smart TVs track viewing. It is how much more they collect than owners are told.

How to turn off tracking on a Samsung TV

Menus vary by model year, but on recent Samsung TVs:

1. Press Home and open Settings.
2. Go to Support > Terms & Privacy > Privacy Choices (on some models: General & Privacy > Terms & Privacy).
3. Turn off Viewing Information Services (ACR).
4. Turn off Interest-Based Advertising. You will still see ads, but not ones based on your viewing.

If the TV is signed in to a Samsung account, the same choices are in the privacy settings of your Samsung account online.

Other brands have the same feature under different names: LG "Live Plus", Sony "Samba Interactive TV", Vizio "Viewing Data", and on Roku the "Use info from TV inputs" and "Personalize ads" options.

Why it matters for businesses

Smart TVs sit in conference rooms, lobbies, waiting rooms and break rooms, usually on the same network as the company's laptops, printers and servers. If a TV maps the network it is on, as the researcher claims, it sees everything else on that network too.

• Put TVs and other smart devices on a separate network (a guest or device network), never on the one your business systems use.
• Turn off ACR, interest-based ads and voice features on every TV, and keep their firmware updated.
• Do not sign TVs in to personal accounts.
• For screens that only show slides or video, consider a plain display with a managed streaming device you control.

A connected device you do not manage is the weakest point on any network. We wrote about that in Your Tailscale Network Is Only as Safe as Its Weakest Device.

Samsung TV tracking questions people are asking

Is my Samsung TV spying on me?

Samsung TVs use automatic content recognition to learn what you watch, unless you turn it off. That part is documented. The new claims about screenshots, network mapping and audio come from one researcher and have not yet been confirmed on an unmodified TV.

How do I turn off ACR on a Samsung TV?

Settings > Support > Terms & Privacy > Privacy Choices, then turn off Viewing Information Services. Turn off Interest-Based Advertising on the same screen.

Does turning off Viewing Information Services stop all tracking?

It turns off ACR viewing data. You will still see ads, and the TV still connects to Samsung for apps and updates. For a business, keeping the TV on its own network limits what any remaining data collection can reach.

Has Samsung responded to the research?

Samsung has not publicly responded to log4j's findings.

Have the findings been confirmed?

Not independently on an unmodified television. They are documented with code screenshots from a rooted TV, which is strong evidence of what the software can do but not proof of what an ordinary set does by default.

Is it legal for a TV to collect viewing data?

Regulators have required consent: the FTC's Vizio settlement in 2017, and Texas's agreement with Samsung in February 2026 requiring express consent before ACR data is collected from Texans.

The bigger lesson

Every device on a business network is a computer, and most of them are run by someone else. The ones nobody thinks about, the TV in the meeting room, the camera, the printer, are the ones nobody updates, configures or separates from the systems that matter.

If you want your network reviewed and your devices separated and locked down, see our self-hosting and infrastructure and security review and hardening services, or get a tech quote.

Sources: Cybersecurity News - Researcher gains root access to Samsung smart TV; Texas Attorney General - agreement with Samsung (February 26, 2026); FTC - Vizio settlement (2017); Malwarebytes - how to disable ACR.