Calls are escalating in Europe to take action against smart glasses, after secretly filmed recordings of girls and women spread on the Internet, while a petition was launched in Britain to demand a ban on their sale, according to the Daily Star newspaper.
These glasses allow taking photos and videos, listening to music and making calls, in addition to translating texts and interacting with the artificial intelligence assistant, and they have spread among millions of users.
Interest in them increased during the summer after a marketing partnership between beauty star Kylie Jenner and Meta, at a time when major technology companies are betting on glasses as the next generation of wearable devices, driven by the development of artificial intelligence.
After the failure of the Google experiment in 2013, Meta glasses, which were developed in cooperation with Essilor Luxottica, the manufacturer of Ray-Ban glasses, achieved greater popularity. Meta sold about 7 million pairs in 2025, compared to two million pairs in 2023 and 2024, while Google and Snap are preparing to launch glasses powered by artificial intelligence.
But this spread has raised increasing concerns, especially in Britain, where reports have spread about the use of what has become known as “pervert glasses” to secretly photograph people, coinciding with news of the development of a facial recognition feature by Meta.
In one case, a 17-year-old girl told Channel 4 News in August that a man approached her and secretly recorded his interaction with her.
Meta confirmed that it has taken measures to prevent disabling the flashing LED light that alerts others that the glasses are recording, considering that this step constitutes a deterrent against misuse.
In Oslo, glasses have been banned in schools, while the Norwegian government is considering regulating their use and potentially banning facial recognition features in public places. Calls are also growing within the European Union to take similar measures, while the French Data Protection Authority has called for “vigilance” regarding this technology.
