Smart Glasses Spark Privacy Outcry

Meta Platforms is facing renewed pressure from civil liberties and advocacy groups over reported plans to add facial recognition capabilities to its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses.

More than 70 organizations said they have asked Meta to drop the feature, according to a letter sent to CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday. The coalition includes the ACLU and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and it argues that the technology would allow people to be identified in public without their knowledge.

The groups said the proposed capability is internally referred to as “Name Tag.” They contend it would enable “silent” identification of individuals in public spaces by pairing facial recognition with the smart glasses’ artificial intelligence assistant, letting wearers retrieve information about people within their field of view.

Internal documents reportedly describe two versions Meta considered. One version would identify individuals who are connected to the wearer on Meta platforms, while another would recognize anyone with a public Meta service account, according to the account of the documents referenced in the letter.

In the letter, the organizations argued that design changes or opt-out tools would not adequately address the risks because bystanders cannot meaningfully consent to being identified. They said the core concern is not only how the feature might be used by the wearer, but also the lack of practical control for people who may be captured by the glasses in everyday public settings.

The coalition also called on Meta to disclose whether its wearables have been used in stalking or harassment cases, and to detail any discussions with federal law enforcement agencies about potential data use. The letter frames these disclosures as necessary to understand how the company is assessing safety risks and governance around wearable data.

The dispute comes against the backdrop of Meta’s earlier retreat from facial recognition in a different product area. In 2021, Meta said it would discontinue Facebook’s photo-tagging system and delete over a billion user facial recognition templates, citing the need to balance positive use cases with broader societal concerns and the lack of regulatory clarity.

What remains unclear from the letter and the referenced internal documents is whether Meta has finalized “Name Tag,” how it would be deployed across Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses, and what specific safeguards—if any—would be attached to the feature. The organizations’ request is explicit: abandon the plan rather than attempt to modify it.