As Meta's AI-enabled smart glasses surge in popularity, it is becoming increasingly difficult for bystanders to know when they are being secretly recorded, raising fresh privacy concerns. Some venues, including schools, courts, restaurants and DEF CON 2026, have banned the devices outright, but enforcement relies on tech-savvy staff or vigilant onlookers spotting them, meaning bans alone cannot stop covert recording. Privacy advocates warn Meta is likely to make the technology even more intrusive as it races to outsell rivals, with future features such as facial recognition potentially enabling deepfakes or non-consensual intimate imagery.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation says the glasses' only current safeguard, a small recording light, is nearly "useless" since it can easily be covered with a sticker, and has already been linked to stalking, harassment of sex workers and retail staff, and use in immigration raids. The Financial Times has reported that Meta is testing "super sensing" glasses that would continuously capture audio and video, with executives reportedly planning not to activate the warning light during such use, making covert recording even harder to detect. EFF has published a guide urging users to resist facial recognition, adopt responsible recording habits and blur strangers' faces before posting footage online, while calling for lawmakers to grant people a private right to sue over biometric privacy violations.