Meta says privacy fix stops AI glasses users from secretly recording others

Meta has tightened the privacy controls on its AI glasses after reports that people were using them to film others without consent. The glasses include an LED light designed to alert bystanders when recording begins.

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I had no say.

The company said the cameras now deactivate if a user starts filming and then covers the light. Meta previously disabled recording only when the light was blocked before filming began. The company said firms offering services to tamper with the LED have shut down because the camera now deactivates when tampering is detected.

CBS News reported in August that a woman discovered a video of herself on social media after a man wearing the glasses filmed her without her knowledge. “I had no say,” she told CBS News, saying nobody had asked her permission to record her. A CBS News test last month also found that an earlier version of the disabling mechanism did not work when the light was covered after recording had started.

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We're going to keep rolling out updates like this to make sure the capture LED can reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos are being captured for someone's gallery.

Meta executive Alex Himel said the company would continue releasing updates so the capture LED could reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos were being recorded. He said only a very small minority of users tried to bypass the safeguards. Meta has also launched an education campaign, removed posts offering tampering instructions or services, deleted thousands of harassment posts linked to pickup-artist and prank content, and blocked related search terms and hashtags, including “pickup artist” and “rizz.”

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Only a tiny minority of people try to get around these protections, and the fact they have to go to these lengths shows our efforts are working.