Meta glasses ads face backlash over covert filming concerns

Advertisements for Meta smart glasses have drawn sharp criticism in Denmark, with consumer advocates saying it is not clear enough when people are being filmed, DR reports.

The glasses resemble ordinary spectacles or sunglasses but can record video, take photographs and play audio. Several media outlets have recently reported cases in which the glasses were allegedly used to film people, particularly women, without their knowledge before the footage was posted on social media without consent.

Fashion magazines Euroman and Eurowoman have stopped producing further content for an advertising campaign by optical retailer Synoptik promoting Meta glasses in Ray-Ban frames, after receiving a wave of negative comments.

“How embarrassing to see a magazine aimed at women advertising assault glasses,” one user wrote. Another asked: “How can you promote these stalker glasses?”

Several prominent influencers have also faced criticism for promoting the glasses. “Can we stop normalising surveillance glasses?” read one of many comments on an advertisement video by influencer Cecilie Hougaard, who brought Meta glasses to Smukfest. Influencer Sus Wilkens has also faced angry messages.

US influencer and businesswoman Kylie Jenner has likewise been heavily criticised. She has worked with Meta on a sunglasses design.

Consumer Council questions recording light

DR has previously reported cases in which people were secretly filmed during conversations and exposed by anonymous users on a TikTok profile with 45,000 followers.

British media outlets BBC and The Guardian have reported several cases involving women who were filmed without their knowledge. One was a 21-year-old woman who felt violated after appearing in a TikTok video with 1.3 million views, in which a man shared tips with his followers on how to approach unfamiliar women.

In Denmark, filming people in public is generally not illegal, although the law provides different protections when footage is published. Meta, which makes the glasses featured in the Danish advertisements, says a flashing light on the glasses alerts people when they are being recorded.

However, the Danish Consumer Council Tænk says the signal is not sufficiently clear.

“The ethical question raised by the glasses is that you cannot be sufficiently sure when other people are recording you,” Peter Grønlund Holm, a consumer policy adviser at the council, said on the radio programme P1 Morgen.

“The light that is supposed to indicate this is not clear. In natural light, it can be mistaken for reflections in the frames,” he said.

International technology media have previously described how people on social media shared tips for hacking the glasses to remove the flashing light while recording. Meta says this should not be possible with its newest versions.

Holm said Tænk had received inquiries from concerned people. The council had also found examples of videos on social media that appeared to have been filmed with smart glasses on the streets of Copenhagen. Among the reasons for the suspicion were that the person filming had their hands free and that the camera was positioned at eye level.

Synoptik rejects inappropriate use

Although Tænk is critical of Synoptik advertising Meta’s glasses, Holm said the company could not be held responsible for selling a legal product. He said there was instead a need for greater clarity about the law.

“We have previously called for the rules to be clarified regarding when and to what extent the glasses may be permitted. No final answer has been provided,” he said.

In an Instagram advertisement post that attracted criticism, Euroman and Eurowoman said their intention with the Synoptik campaign had been to “test the creative possibilities of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses and how they can be used in everyday life”.

“It was absolutely not intended to encourage inappropriate or offensive use of the product. On the contrary. Nor do we believe our content does that,” the magazines wrote.