Meta's new AI glasses let people secretly film and photograph you!
More and more videos surface online of women being filmed with smart glasses without their consent or even without them knowing. Find out more in this blog post!
What are Meta’s AI glasses?
In 2021, Meta launched its first smart glasses and then two years later its first AI glasses, together with EssilorLuxottica – the parent company behind Ray-Ban. In contrast to virtual reality glasses or headsets, Meta’s smart glasses do not have a display to which information can be projected. Instead, the features are hidden within the glasses’ frame and almost invisible to outsiders.
At the end of June 2026, Meta announced a new release of its AI glasses that come with a new design but without the Ray-Ban or Oakley branding, as the previous ones had.
Meta’s AI glasses come with a range of features such as a built-in camera and personal speakers that allow you to take photos and record videos hands-free or live translate a conversation. Additionally, you can also take phone calls or listen to music or podcasts.
If you want to completely turn of Meta’s AI, you can find more information here.
The privacy issues with smart glasses
While some may argue that smart glasses come with a lot of convenient advantages, such as taking pictures or recording videos hands-free, its dangers become more apparent: People can be photographed or recorded without their consent, and moreover, without them even knowing or realizing.
According to Meta’s privacy policy, voice interactions recorded by the smart glasses can be stored and processed using machine learning to improve its products and the data may be kept for up to a year unless users delete them sooner.
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People on Reddit are also voicing their concerns over Meta’s new AI glasses.
Facial recognition
According to a Wired report, Meta silently installed facial recognition into its smart glasses. But after a public outcry, this seems to have been silently removed again.
Related: This is not the first or the only time the company has sparked controversy. In April 2026, it announced the installation of a tracking software on its employees’ desktop to train its AI. More recently, it faced a lot of backlash when it announced Meta Muse, its latest AI image generator that would be able to manipulate other Instagram user’s pictures.
Meta’s statement
Meta seems to be aware of the privacy issues that have arised with their smart glasses since it even has a page dedicated to frequently asked questions “to help both the wearers of our glasses and the people around them feel comfortable”. In it, Meta states that it is not allowed to cover up or disable the LED light. If one attempts to do so, according to Meta, then the camera is automatically disabled and only activated again if the LED is unblocked. According to the company, that is just one of many ways it has built privacy in its AI glasses.
However, if you have to provide guidelines on how to wear your smart glasses responsibly, then this may be a first sign that your technology is not that responsible after all. Especially if they seem to be ignored by many.
The dark side of smart glasses
According to Meta, the white LED – indicating that the wearer of the smart glasses is recording or taking a picture – can be seen during night and day. However, there are various tutorials online that show how you can disable the LED light in your smart glasses so that it won’t show when you are recording. This even caused Meta to admit that they are continuously working on improving its privacy measures.
On top of that, with the new release of Meta’s AI glasses, the built-in camera allows people to take a picture or record other people without their consent. According to a BBC article, there are more and more reports of women being approached by men that wear smart glasses and filmed them without even knowing or without their consent. The women only later realize that they were being filmed when they find videos of them on social media.
Because photography in public spheres is broadly considered legal, the women often cannot take any legal action. Hence, there is barely anything they can do except for hoping the creators take down their videos.
In light of these events, the slogan for Meta’s AI glasses – “Designed for privacy, controlled by you” seems like an ironic understatement.
Final thoughts
Meta will soon not be the only provider for smart glasses with Google and Apple, reportedly, also currently working on developing its own smart glasses. This means: smart glasses will become a new part of our reality and, it will become harder to detect whether they are filming or not. With the development of smart glasses, eyes can turn into cameras.
Therefore, there is a new need for legal regulations to adapt to this technology and provide a legal framework to make sure we are not being filmed in public without our knowledge and without our consent. In short: We need laws that protect our human right to privacy, even when we’re outside in public.
