Meta is facing a new lawsuit in the United States over privacy concerns related to its AI smart glasses. The lawsuit follows an investigation by Swedish newspapers which found that workers at a Kenya-based subcontractor were reviewing footage from customers’ glasses. This footage reportedly included sensitive content such as nudity, people having sex, and using the toilet.
While Meta claimed it was blurring faces in images, sources disputed that this blurring consistently worked. The news prompted the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office to investigate the matter.
In the newly filed complaint, plaintiffs Gina Bartone of New Jersey and Mateo Canu of California allege that Meta violated privacy laws and engaged in false advertising. They are represented by the public interest-focused Clarkson Law Firm. The complaint states that the Meta AI smart glasses are advertised with promises like “designed for privacy, controlled by you,” and “built for your privacy.” The plaintiffs argue that such marketing would not lead customers to assume their glasses’ footage, including intimate moments, was being watched by overseas workers. They believed Meta’s marketing and said they saw no disclaimer contradicting the advertised privacy protections.
The suit charges Meta and its glasses manufacturing partner Luxottica of America with conduct that violates consumer protection laws. Meta does not have a comment on the litigation at this time.
The Clarkson Law Firm, known for filing other major lawsuits against tech giants, points to the scale of the issue. In 2025, over seven million people bought Meta’s smart glasses, meaning their footage is fed into a data pipeline for review without an option to opt out.
Meta told the BBC that when people share content with Meta AI, it uses contractors to review the information to improve the user experience, a practice explained in its privacy policy. The company pointed to its Supplemental Meta Platforms Terms of Service without specifying where this was noted. However, the news outlet found a mention of human review in Meta’s U.K. AI terms of service. A version of that policy applicable to the U.S. states, “In some cases, Meta will review your interactions with AIs, including the content of your conversations with or messages to AIs, and this review may be automated or manual (human).”
The complaint primarily focuses on how the glasses were marketed, showing examples of ads that touted privacy benefits, described privacy settings, and an “added layer of security.” One ad read, “You’re in control of your data and content,” explaining that smart glasses owners choose what content is shared.
The rise of smart glasses and other “luxury surveillance” technology has prompted a broad backlash. One developer even published an app capable of detecting when smart glasses are nearby.
Meta did not comment on the litigation itself as it was just filed. However, spokesperson Christopher Sgro offered a statement on the overall issue, saying, “Ray-Ban Meta glasses help you use AI, hands-free, to answer questions about the world around you. Unless users choose to share media they’ve captured with Meta or others, that media stays on the user’s device. 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.” This statement was added after the initial publication.