Dutch eyewear chain Hans Anders stops selling Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses

Hans Anders, one of the largest Dutch eyewear chains, has stopped selling Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in the Netherlands and Belgium. The chain told Reuters on Friday that privacy concerns were behind the move. Dutch online retailer Wehkamp has also paused sales, Business Insider reported.

“This decision follows the ongoing public and political debate surrounding smart glasses and the questions being raised about the conditions under which this technology can be used,” a Hans Anders spokesperson told Reuters.

Private equity firm KKR owns Nexeye, the parent of Hans Anders. Nexeye runs 776 stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden. It does not sell the glasses in the last three. The chain will wait for the debate to end before it decides whether to sell them again, a Nexeye spokesperson told Business Insider.

The halt followed a report in Dutch newspaper AD. It described strangers filming people, especially women, in public without their knowledge. Last month the Dutch data protection authority, the AP, warned smart glasses users that they generally may not share videos of identifiable people without permission. It is also looking at further measures against camera glasses, Business Insider reported.

Consumer group Consumentenbond said this week it would take Meta to court unless the glasses comply with privacy law. Its video test used a sticker that hides the recording light from the front but lets in side light. That got around Meta’s LED update , which stops recording if someone covers the light, the group said. Offlimits, which fights online abuse, urged Meta and Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica to pull the glasses from sale.

“Our glasses continue to be very popular and we’re continuing to expand styles and features,” a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider.

Meta said every pair with a camera has a bright light that blinks when it records. Users cannot turn the light off. If someone covers or tampers with it, the camera stops working, the company said.

The Dutch government is not rushing to a ban. Claudia van Bruggen, the state secretary for justice, told parliament the AP had received only six reports and one complaint. The cabinet is waiting for a report on the glasses from the European Data Protection Board, due later this year.

Norway’s government plans a temporary ban on AI glasses in some public places. In September, Paris prosecutors opened a criminal probe into smart glasses used to film women.