Meta’s ‘Pervert Glasses’ Are Absolutely Being Used to Stalk Women, Study Reveals
A preprint paper published this week highlights the dangers of harassment involving Meta’s camera-equipped smart glasses. Of the 350 covert recording videos studied by researchers at the University of Sydney, just under 60% of them included harassing behaviour, and 43% resulted in reams of insulting and derogatory comments directed at unwitting female subjects.
Meta’s smart glasses have had celebrity tie-ins and heaps of marketing money dumped into them to frame them as fun for hands-free social recording, or as providing useful insights to those with limited navigation capabilities. Although accessibility is one of the device’s greatest strengths, the smartglasses’ ability to record people without their knowledge has led to them being labelled “pervert glasses.” Research backs up that that’s exactly what many people are using them for.
The paper, titled “‘#RizzCam’: Smart Glasses, Ambient Capture and Invisible Harassment,” looked at hundreds of videos published between September 2023 and March 2024—well before the peak of these glasses’ rollout—and found that they often contained harassing content. Self-proclaimed pickup artists often used them to record their interactions with women, almost always without their permission, and often without them even being aware they were recorded.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado via PCMag
Videos left comments open on more than 90% of occasions, meaning that for months or years after the videos were published, viewers could continue to harass those in the video. Although Instagram has pledged to remove the “pickup-like kind of videos,” there’s still plenty to be found on there, and other platforms don’t even give lip service to the idea.
Meta has defended its glasses by saying that the indicator LED makes it clear when recording is happening. But that places the burden of detection on the person being filmed and gives them little recourse to stop it. There are also plenty of well-known methods for removing the indicator, even if Meta prohibits it.
Still, pushback is happening in the real world, whether digital platforms respond or not. The UK recently enacted a range of bans on smart glasses across theaters, pubs, Comic Con events, private members’ clubs, and courtrooms.
The social stigma of wearing these kinds of glasses is rapidly becoming ubiquitous. If you’re wearing glasses that can record people without their knowledge, you’re likely to find yourself with few people who want to be around you.
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