Meta AI Glasses Dubbed 'Pervert Glasses' Over Privacy
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses were dubbed "pervert glasses" online after a January BBC investigation found women secretly filmed in public, with videos posted to TikTok without consent; one account had posted 100+ similar clips
- Nairobi-based contractors hired to train Meta's AI reviewed smart-glasses footage of people using bathrooms, undressing, changing clothes, exposing credit card numbers, and having sex, per a February joint Swedish newspaper investigation
- Three Democratic senators — Edward Markey, Jeff Merkley, and Ron Wyden — pressed Meta in March about reported facial-recognition plans, warning the technology could enable real-time identification, stalking, and harassment
- The ACLU and 75+ organizations urged Meta in April to scrap facial recognition for the glasses, calling it "a red line society must not cross"
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened a formal investigation in May into whether the glasses secretly record people and mislead consumers about data collection
- Meta updated its Ray-Ban glasses in July to disable the camera if users tamper with the recording-indicator light, though advocacy campaigns in New York, London, and Washington continued to target the devices
- Police Scotland opened an investigation into TikToker Scott Margerison for allegedly secretly filming people with Meta smart glasses, while Comic Con organizer Monopoly Events and DEF CON banned the devices from their events
Why it matters: Texas, Scottish police, three US senators, and the ACLU have all opened investigations or formal challenges — yet Meta is still developing the glasses as a smartphone replacement while weighing facial recognition the ACLU calls "a red line society must not cross."
