Meta AI Smart Glasses Raise Privacy Questions After Woman Says She Was Secretly Recorded

Meta's AI smart glasses are drawing renewed privacy scrutiny after a woman discovered that an interaction with a man wearing the glasses had been recorded and posted online without her knowledge, while Texas regulators are examining how the devices collect and use personal data.

Toluwa Omitowoju said she learned about the video only after friends and people she had not spoken with in years began sending it to her. She estimated that the clip received more than 200,000 views across social media platforms before it was removed. Omitowoju said she did not know she was being recorded and had not agreed to have the video posted.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses resemble conventional eyewear but include cameras and microphones that can capture photos, video and audio. A small LED light is designed to signal when the camera is recording, a feature Meta says is intended to alert people nearby.

The technology is already under regulatory review. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Meta's smart glasses in May over concerns about recordings, facial data, and the company's privacy claims. His office issued a civil investigative demand seeking information about how Meta collects and uses consumer data and whether the company accurately describes those practices.

Recording someone without permission is not automatically illegal. Federal law generally allows a person who is part of a conversation to record it when at least one participant consents, while some states require permission from everyone involved in certain private conversations.

Those rules mainly apply to communications, including audio. Photographing or filming someone who is visible in a public place is usually treated differently from secretly recording a private conversation.

Privacy protections are stronger when a person reasonably expects a place or conversation to remain private. A civil claim known as intrusion upon seclusion can apply when someone intentionally intrudes into a private setting or private matter in a way that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. Recording inside a home, restroom, or another private setting can raise different legal issues from filming someone on a sidewalk or in another public area.

AI-powered eyewear raises a separate issue because the technology may do more than save an image. Software can analyze a face and create biometric information, which is regulated under some state laws.

Texas law defines a biometric identifier to include a record of face geometry. A company generally cannot capture that information for a commercial purpose without first informing the person and obtaining consent.

Changes to the state's biometric law that took effect Jan. 1 also address information found in publicly available images and other media. The law states that the presence of biometric information in publicly available material does not by itself show that a person consented to a business capturing or storing a biometric identifier for commercial use.

A person may have little ability to stop someone from filming them in a public setting, but different rules can apply if a company later collects or processes facial geometry from that image.

Paxton's investigation also examines Meta's statements about the privacy protections built into the glasses. Consumer protection laws allow regulators to challenge business practices they consider deceptive or misleading, including claims about how personal information is collected, used, or protected.

Meta says privacy and data protection are part of the design of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The company says the recording light and other software safeguards are intended to make recording visible and prevent capture when the LED is blocked before recording begins.

The Texas inquiry follows an earlier dispute between the state and Meta over biometric information. In 2024, Meta agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to resolve allegations that Facebook's facial recognition technology captured biometric data without the authorization required under state law. Meta did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.

Meta has also addressed covert recording through its social media policies. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in July that the platform would remove certain videos involving people who are secretly recorded and harassed, including some pickup content. Instagram's rules are separate from recording and privacy laws, so a video may violate platform policy even if the recording itself does not violate the law.

Omitowoju's experience has not been reported as the subject of a lawsuit. The Texas investigation into Meta's smart glasses remains ongoing, and the attorney general's office has not announced a finding that Meta violated state law in connection with the devices.