Meta sued over spying through smart glasses

[Paul2]

Meta sued over spying through smart glasses

If you have been thinking about buying Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, you might want to reconsider. The company has been caught viewing users' footage, including people naked, having sex and using the toilet.

The shocking case was uncovered by Sweden's Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten, who spoke with more than 30 employees at Sama in Kenya, a company hired by Meta (Facebook) to review recordings from the glasses and tag objects like flowers and cars.

The problem is that they see far more than that, all without users' knowledge.

- "In some videos you can see someone going to the toilet, or getting undressed. I don't think they know, because if they knew they wouldn't be recording," a Sama employee told the Swedish newspapers.

A spy in your home
Meta claims to have sold 7 million smart glasses in 2025, but even if customers are buying hardware from one of the world's most privacy-intrusive companies, they likely did not expect to bring a spy into their own home.

- "I saw a video where a man puts the glasses on the bedside table and leaves the room. Shortly afterwards his wife comes in and changes her clothes," another employee said.

Employees say they can see people on the toilet, having sex and even credit card details. Practically everything users look at can be sent to Sama and Meta's servers. Faces are supposed to be blurred, but that does not always happen, and it is unclear why footage of naked people is reviewed to begin with.

- "We see everything – from living rooms to naked bodies. Meta has that type of content in its databases. People can record themselves in the wrong way and not even know what they are recording. They are real people like you and me."


The spy is listening too
It is not just video from inside the home that Meta reviews. Audio recordings are also accessed to evaluate how its AI assistant responds to users.

- "It can be about any topics at all. We see chats where someone talks about crimes or protests. It is not just greetings, it can be very dark things as well."

There is no way to opt out of this kind of data sharing if you want to use the features of Meta's glasses. Even recordings collected in the EU, which are subject to GDPR, can be shared, according to Meta, which has declined to answer specific questions from the newspapers.

Under investigation, lawsuits
The revelations have already triggered a state investigation in the UK and a lawsuit in New Jersey, USA, where two customers allege that Meta is misleading consumers by claiming the glasses are "designed for privacy, controlled by you".

A Swedish security expert at the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection, Petter Flink, points out that the data collected through the glasses is more valuable than the hardware itself – the user is the product.

The issue runs deeper, however, because it is not the wearer who is being surveilled, but the people around them. These individuals have never agreed to Meta's terms.

- "When people share content with Meta AI, we sometimes use contractors to review this data for the purpose of improving people's experience, as many other companies do. We take steps to filter this data to protect people's privacy and to help prevent identifying information from being reviewed," Meta said in a written statement to TechCrunch.

Meta also sells the Quest VR headset, which is subject to the same general privacy terms.

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1774247985

wow.  that is scary and good to know.  very, very intrusive of other people's piracy there.

[Titan]

So the company that has been sued before for privacy issues is in trouble again for privacy issues? Not shocked by this.

[Paul2]

whoa, didn't know meta was sued before for privacy issues until you mentioned it.  good to know.

[Titan]

Yeah. There was a class action lawsuit. I forget what exactly it was about. I got a small gift card for it lol. I actually forgot I had it. It's like a digital one or something. Then Facebook had that whole Cambridge Analytica thing happen like 10 years ago they still haven't fully recovered from.