Secret face-scanning found in Meta glasses as privacy fears grow
Meta's smart glasses are facing intense scrutiny after reports emerged of covert facial recognition technology and widespread misuse, raising urgent questions about privacy regulation for wearable tech in Europe.
Meta is facing a growing backlash over its AI-enabled smart glasses following reports that the devices contain covert facial recognition capabilities and are being used to secretly record women.
According to a Wired analysis, Meta quietly embedded a facial recognition feature, internally called “NameTag”, into the AI app used by its glasses. The technology can identify people caught on the device's camera, detect faces, crop them, and encode them into biometric data.
The revelation comes alongside increasing reports of the hardware being used for digital sexual abuse. Men have recorded interactions with women without their knowledge or consent, posting the footage on TikTok and Instagram to build online followings. One woman told the BBC she was recorded by a man who then demanded money to remove the video from social media.
Meta maintains that its hardware includes safeguards. “Our glasses have an LED light that activates whenever someone captures content, so it’s clear to others that the device is recording and features tamper detection technology to prevent people from covering that light,” the company told CNN.
However, CNN reported that none of the women it spoke to noticed a flashing light during their interactions. Furthermore, social media creators have posted tutorials on how to bypass the LED safeguard, forcing Meta to issue updates to its software to block these workarounds.
Despite these severe privacy concerns, Meta is pushing ahead with a mainstream marketing strategy. The company recently recruited celebrity Kylie Jenner to endorse the wearables, an attempt to normalize the technology and counter the negative publicity.
For European regulators and consumers, the integration of biometric scanning into consumer wearables represents a critical test. As tech companies embed surveillance capabilities into everyday accessories like glasses, the gap between existing safety guidelines and actual hardware misuse becomes starkly apparent.
