Meta Sued Over AI Glasses Privacy Breach
Meta is facing a lawsuit in California over an alleged major privacy breach involving its new AI glasses. The suit claims the company transmitted a nude video captured by the glasses to its own employees, fueling serious concerns about data security and the potential for misuse of wearable AI.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court by two U.S. residents, Gina Bartone of New Jersey and Mateo Canu of California, who both purchased the glasses. The lawsuit names both Meta Platforms Inc. and Luxottica of America, the eyewear manufacturer, as defendants. At the heart of the complaint is the allegation of deceptive marketing. The plaintiffs argue that Meta's slogan, "designed for privacy, controlled by you," is misleading because it failed to disclose that human contractors could view footage. The lawsuit contends that no reasonable consumer would expect their private moments to be viewed by strangers overseas. The lawsuit was spurred by an investigation by Swedish news outlets which revealed that contractors in Kenya were manually reviewing and labeling video clips captured by the glasses to train Meta's AI. These workers reported viewing deeply personal moments, including people using the toilet, engaging in sexual acts, and displaying financial information. Meta's defense points to its terms of service, which state that human reviewers may access interactions with its AI to improve the services. However, the lawsuit alleges that this information was not made clear in the product's marketing. Since an April 2025 policy update, users can no longer opt out of having their voice recordings stored. The controversy has attracted regulatory attention, with the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) writing to Meta for more information regarding its data practices for the glasses. This adds to the growing global scrutiny over the privacy implications of wearable AI technology. This isn't the first time Meta's smart glasses have faced privacy backlash. Upon their initial launch as "Ray-Ban Stories," data protection authorities in Italy and Ireland raised concerns about the outward-facing LED light being an insufficient indicator that someone was being recorded.
