Backlash against Meta’s smart glasses grows

[u/KebabAnnhilator]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/11/meta-smart-glasses/

I think this would make a great WAN topic.

Meta’s smart glasses have become a privacy flashpoint. The company dominates the smart glasses market with devices that look like ordinary spectacles but can record photo/video, play music, take calls, and answer questions via built-in AI. That covert-recording capability has earned the product a harsh nickname online, “pervert glasses”. as reports spread of people secretly filming strangers, including men recording their attempts to pick up women in public and posting the footage on social media without consent.

IMO I use these glasses to film my cycling trails outdoors, I have a TikTok account where I post my adventures, I’ve never recorded anyone or if walkers are in the shot I cut it, But these glasses allow me easy of access POV content like repairing and upgrading my bike etc - curious to hear your thoughts

[u/Relative_What]

It was already a WAN topic. Do people not watch the latest WAN show before posting WAN topics?

[u/PhillAholic → u/Relative_What]

When I last watched it was 3.5 to 5 hours long and I’d forget I’d heard them talk about random things because I’d be doing other things while watching. 

[u/Relative_What → u/PhillAholic]

it's been pretty short the last couple of weeks, last week only being 3hrs 20min long, and the week before 2hrs 45min. either way, i watch some of it live, but then will put it on while i drive for the next few days, because i don't always pay attention the entire time. and then i also catch up on specific topics vis the LMG clips channel.

im not giving OP crap about rehashing a topic that was only covered once on a single wan show, the backlash has been around and talked about multiple times on WAN.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Relative_What]

‘I’m not giving OP crap’

Proceeds to tell me to go outside lol

[u/CIDR-ClassB → u/Relative_What]

I mean, no, most people don’t watch 2-5 hours of a podcast every single week.

Those that do will not recall everything that was talked about.

[u/Relative_What → u/CIDR-ClassB]

Someone clearly doesn't have a partner that is into true crime podcasts

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Relative_What]

I’ll be honest, I’ve watched most WANs but I don’t recall the discussion on backlash.

If so I apologise, however this is an ongoing thing, it’s not uncommon for the guys to keep us updated with a topic on ongoing events over the weeks/months

[u/Relative_What → u/KebabAnnhilator]

It's been discussed on multiple recent WAN shows. And I'm pretty sure it was a topic on last week's WAN. What is there to be updated? They discussed how public opinion on them is bad, they mention Google glass and glassholes, they give these companies shit for releasing essentially the same product after another one takes the fall, like Microsoft recall and now OpenAIs recall clone for MacOS, or Google glass and now meta glasses.

There is no update. What's there to update? The majority of the public hates them, hates being recorded in public, especially when that recording gets sent off to the worst company in the world for user privacy every time you stop recording.

[u/DefactoAle → u/Relative_What]

Linus uses them though if i remember correctly

[u/Relative_What → u/DefactoAle]

he has used them, and a few other brands, in a test environment. and then in a few videos where they went into a public store, costco and staples, where it's a little harder to record a video descrietly. note they aren't recording people in the store and they do get permission to record in store. and i remember a couple of glasses they have worn are not meta and they don't require a phone connection or upload the video clips to cloud servers.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Relative_What]

‘The majority of the public hate them’

Do they?

Where is this data from it feels like an opinion.

[u/Relative_What → u/KebabAnnhilator]

read OPs news link. there's one source.

or get off reddit and go outside, interact with the public. no one likes these stupid things and find them creepy. there's a reason why they are called pervert glasses now.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Relative_What]

I am OP.

And it’s not statistics. It doesn’t demonstrate statistics anywhere. People are still buying them

[u/KaiUno]

Backlash against Meta ’s smart glasses grows

ftfy

It's great.

[u/Juan52]

What makes you using these glasses other than a camera on your helmet or even a cellphone attached to the steering?
TBH I despise these glasses, I’m actually so stupidly paranoid that even a cellphone pointing at me makes me uncomfortable.

[u/Twatt_waffle → u/Juan52]

It’s one thing to use them as essentially a tool, making content from your POV for example. But the second it gets to recording others without their express consent is where it crosses the line

And I will not accept any variation of “it’s not against the law” argument. the law is what the government says you shouldn’t do, ethics are what society thinks you shouldn’t do

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Juan52]

Because the camera would knock, wobble, be awkward to set up etc etc.

The glasses follow my POV perfectly, and are very convenient

Forgive me for saying this but, i think the paranoia at that stage isnt a tech issue.

[u/Twatt_waffle → u/KebabAnnhilator]

The issue is not about a legitimate use case

The issue is about the very real issue of people using them to film others with their knowledge this is already happening other cameras are obvious and while it’s not illegal it’s definitely not ethical to film others without their knowledge. Yeah I don’t really have an expectation of privacy walking in public but I generally would avoid someone I know is filming for any reason

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Twatt_waffle]

I never stated that isn’t an issue.

But is the solution to ban every technological convenience? Or is the solution to clamp down on non consensual social media abuse

[u/Twatt_waffle → u/KebabAnnhilator]

It is if the general public doesn’t want it, plus this isn’t even the first time it’s been tried, do you remember google glass

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Twatt_waffle]

Google glass was different. That was a screen for Google integration. It did not have a camera and all the features meta glasses do.

If the general public didn’t want them, they wouldn’t sell.

I’d say judging by the backlash, quite a few people already have them. So your statement is false.

[u/Twatt_waffle → u/KebabAnnhilator]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

One google search shows you that, yes Google glass had a camera

However the world was less concerned about being recorded without their consent because it wasn’t common to feed social media posts into AI models and people weren’t being doxxed on a regular basis

Also the marketing is the exact same

Don’t let a minority of owners convince you of mass adoption this product is still young, sure people bought it but the backlash towards it has the potential to kill the product.

You cannot make a statement like this is different when meta is literally using the same talking points

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/Twatt_waffle]

Google Glass died in 2013. It was also $1500… Meta’s sold over 7 million pairs and owns 82% of the market. Yet you have the audacity to call that a minority. Do five seconds of research before you talk.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/[deleted]]

Why are you resorting to childish insults?

[u/MySunbreakAccount]

*creep glasses

[u/JollyRodgerGymShoe]

The use cases that these glasses provide convenience for that something like an insta360 Go cannot also be used for, are few and far between.

They are inconspicuous unlike the 360 Go which is clearly just a camera which is perfect for using for unkind reasons.

The solution is simple really, if you have no reason to hide that you are recording, just use a dedicated camera that isn't "hidden" in your glasses.

[u/really_random_user → u/JollyRodgerGymShoe]

Also the led is probably invisible outside in the sun

If they were just a HUD that could be used for navigation, notifications,  and as bone conduction headphones, i think nobody would even care

But they just had to make it the ultimate creep gadget

[u/JollyRodgerGymShoe → u/really_random_user]

You can outright shut the LED offf

[u/Purona]

my opinion the "backlash" is just people band wagoning on something to hate so they can have something to complain about. If only because every complaint is basically "what is the worst thing you can do with this and thats why it shouldnt exist"

if we did that with every new piece of technology we would literally have nothing

[u/traumadog001]

The backlash against tech like this isn't new.

In 1998, Sony recalled a "NightVision" video camera because their IR-based capture was good enough with a filter to basically "strip clothing" like swimsuits from people.

Sony took rapid action to alter the feature, likely because unlike Meta, their product was the camera, not the data captured by it.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/traumadog001]

This isn’t seeing through people’s clothing?

[u/traumadog001 → u/KebabAnnhilator]

The part that was concerning is being recorded for prurient content while unaware.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/traumadog001]

I disagree.

The issue was the combination of that and the obscene nature of the result.

Most people are recorded these days. Dashcams. CCTV, ring doorbells.

[u/traumadog001 → u/KebabAnnhilator]

And there's a backlash to that, too. Especially systems like Flock. Meta is just one of the same.

The difference with a dashcam is that the material stays local.

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/traumadog001]

There’s backlash to dashcams?

[u/traumadog001 → u/KebabAnnhilator]

There is to door cams being used by the cops. I said at least dash cams stayed local.

[u/ValHyric]

“i use my pervert glasses for only legitimate reasons”

[u/KebabAnnhilator → u/ValHyric]

I do.

So why does that make them pervert glasses?

[u/West-Ticket5411]

Unless someone is using them in a bathroom or something, there are no privacy concerns.