Instagram to Ban Covert Filming by Ray-Ban Meta Glasses

Instagram is cracking down on users who covertly record others with its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The platform announced it will remove content that harasses people, a move that has already led to the suspension of two large accounts. These accounts specialized in filming unwanted interactions, often with women on the street or unsuspecting retail workers.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, stated the platform does not want users to "furtively take videos of other people, harass them, and then post them on our platform." He promised that content abusing or harassing individuals, such as "pickup videos," would be removed. Business Insider reported that two accounts with one million followers each, focused on such content, have already been suspended under this new policy.

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We don't want people to furtively take videos of other people, harass them, and then post them on our platform.

Meta has also been working to address technical aspects of the privacy concerns. Earlier in July, the company announced efforts to prevent users from tampering with the glasses' indicator light, which signals when the camera is recording. Modifications to obscure this light are now intended to prevent recording.

However, the exact criteria for moderating content captured by the glasses remain unclear. Mosseri did not explicitly mention pranks targeting store employees, for example. This comes as Meta has broadly relaxed its content moderation policies in recent years, including significant job cuts.

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If you post content that abuses people or you harass them, like these pickup videos that we see, then we will remove the content.