NAIROBI, Kenya — Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have become the fastest-growing consumer electronics in history with seven million pairs sold, but a wave of privacy violations, lawsuits, and ethical concerns is mounting as the technology proliferates.
Women are being secretly filmed by men wearing the glasses in public spaces — at beaches, in shops, and on streets — with the footage posted online without consent.
One woman said that when she asked for a secret recording to be removed, she was told it was “a paid service.”
Invisible Surveillance
Meta’s glasses, made in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, feature an almost invisible camera in the frames, small speakers in the arms, and lenses that display information. Users can start recording with a casual touch. The small recording light is often dim in daylight and goes unnoticed.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, boasted earlier this year: “They’re some of the fastest-growing consumer electronics in history.”
Meta spokesman Tracy Clayton told the BBC that people should behave responsibly with any technology.
“We have teams dedicated to limiting and combating misuse, but as with any technology, the onus is ultimately on individual people to not actively exploit it,” Clayton said.
Lawsuits and Worker Exposure
Workers in Kenya tasked with reviewing videos from Meta’s glasses to create AI training data said they were exposed to graphic content, including sex acts and bathroom usage.
Two lawsuits followed — one from people who said they had no idea such videos had been made, another from those who said they did not know their videos were being shared for review.
Meta has said users were made aware of the possibility of human review in its terms of service.
Industry Race
Despite the concerns, sales continue to rise, and competitors are entering the market. Apple is reportedly developing its own version, possibly for release next year. Snap will release new Specs this year. Google is set to try more than a decade after its Google Glass flop.
Researchers expect as many as 100 million people to buy a pair in the coming years, making enforcement of recording prohibitions in courthouses, museums, movie theatres, hospitals, and bathrooms nearly impossible.
Facial Recognition Threat
Meta reportedly plans to add facial recognition technology to an updated version, meaning wearers could not only secretly record anyone but also quickly identify them.
Meta markets the glasses under the tagline “Designed for privacy, controlled by you,” suggesting users do not record people who object and turn the glasses off in “sensitive spaces.” These suggestions often go ignored.
Growing Backlash
An increasingly popular use is recording pranks on unsuspecting people. Online influencer Aniessa Navarro said she felt sick when she discovered her waxing technician was wearing Meta’s glasses. The technician claimed they were not recording and were needed for prescription lenses.
Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth dismissed concerns about stigma, citing sales figures as proof of acceptance.
But David Harris, a former Meta AI researcher now at UC Berkeley, expects this generation to face the same backlash that doomed Google Glass.
“Technology like this is fundamentally an invasion of privacy, and it’s really going to face more and more backlash,” Harris said.
In December, a man posted a video complaining that a woman on the New York City Subway broke his Meta glasses. Rather than sympathy, the internet hailed her as a hero.
