Pervs Distraught as Meta Bricks Their Smart Glasses Remotely

Meta has started remotely disabling the smart glasses of users who secretly record others, following public backlash over the devices being used to film people without consent, particularly girls and women. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company announced the crackdown earlier this month, estimating that less than one-tenth of a percent of its seven million smart glasses sold in 2025 had been tampered with to disable the recording light.

This translates to up to 7,000 individual units. While this might not seem like a significant number, Meta is taking the issue seriously, emphasizing that the abuse of its "pervert glasses" was not limited to a few bad actors. The crackdown applies only to customers who physically modified their devices to disable the recording light, while many others using the glasses for covert recording have not made any effort to hide their actions.

Instagram, owned by Meta, has begun suspending some influencers who have been caught aggressively hitting on girls and women while wearing the glasses. Meta is also reportedly planning to incorporate facial recognition technology into the glasses, leading to concerns among the public that the company may not have their best interests in mind.

As a result, establishments like nightclubs are outright banning smart glasses, and some individuals are confronting people who wear them in public. Meta's vice president of wearables, Alex Himel, admitted that the company is fighting an uphill battle, noting that new ways to circumvent safeguards will likely emerge.