It appears that not everyone is quite on board with the growing proliferation of artificially intelligent eyewear.
In fact, some are so against it, they’re taking a lawsuit straight to the top of one of the most AI-forward tech platforms out there.
According to multiple reports, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta (which oversees ubiquitous social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram) has been hit with a class-action lawsuit concerning its line of “smart” glasses.
According to a report by Engadget, the lawsuit was brought forth after a Swedish news outlet dug into claims that subcontractors in Africa were concerned after reviewing footage recorded on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
And these weren’t innocuous images.
Those subcontractors claimed that the footage they viewed included “intimate” content, such as bathroom visits and sexual encounters.
(The subcontractors were tasked with labeling objects in videos captured via these glasses.)
According to Tech Crunch, the U.S. class action lawsuit has been brought forth by Clarkson Law Firm on behalf of plaintiffs Gina Bartone of New Jersey and Mateo Canu of California, who are representing the public.
The class action complaint makes several damning allegations.
One of the biggest issues involved the way the Meta AI smart glasses were being advertised, with slogans like “designed for privacy, controlled by you” and “built for your privacy.”
The plaintiffs allege that those sorts of promises may lead to confusion on the consumer’s end, such as not being aware that these moments were being reviewed by overseas workers.
The plaintiffs further allege that they saw no disclaimer that would reveal what is actually happening to the footage that customers believed was private.
The suit ultimately targets both Meta and the company that manufactures the smart glasses, Luxottica of America, claiming that both have violated consumer protection laws.
PC Gamer, meanwhile, reported on some startling quotes from one of these subcontractors.
“We see everything — from living rooms to naked bodies. Meta has that type of content in its databases”, said one of the workers. “Someone may have been walking around with the glasses, or happened to be wearing them, and then the person’s partner was in the bathroom, or they had just come out naked.
“People can record themselves in the wrong way and not even know what they are recording. They are real people like you and me.”
The most chilling revelation from the worker, however, was the claim that any subcontractor who may feel queasy about viewing these intimate images is effectively silenced via the culture.
“You are not supposed to question it,” the worker said. “If you start asking questions, you are gone.”
Alas, this could be a sizable headache for Meta.
As Tech Crunch tabulated, in 2025 alone, over 7 million people purchased Meta AI smart glasses.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
