Meta’s smart glasses have become the center of a privacy problem the company can’t seem to shake. It announced a ban on users who film themselves being creepy with strangers, yet hundreds of such videos remain visible on the platform. Many show men making sexual comments and then recording the butts and breasts of their victims.
An investigation found that most of these users have a robust following on the platform, with some as high as half-a-million. One user wears the glasses to stroll around insulting women and filming their responses. Some of his videos have over a million views.
The ban that didn’t change much
It’s obvious now that the privacy risks are real.
In the past, the company relied on celebrity endorsements and large marketing campaigns to push sales and spin the device’s image positively. Even Instagram head Adam Mosseri lost his cool at the amount of creepy behavior and vowed a crackdown soon.
Related: Grant Thornton Bharat ranks #30 on India’s Best Employers 2026 list
Such has been the response to “pervert” glasses that people who spent $299 for them fear wearing them in public.
A contrarian marketing stunt
Google alternative DuckDuckGo is now using the chaos to push privacy and safety with a marketing stunt.
It launched non-pervert glasses that lack any electronics.
In a series of obviously satirical messages, the company said it partnered with sunglasses maker Knockaround to create “the world’s most innovative anti-surveillance sunglasses. A Normal F*king Sunglass.”
Related: Rentoza enters business rescue after burning $7.3M
DuckDuckGo has long seen itself as a contrarian to Big Tech’s data-selling ways. “No camera, no microphone, no AI, no battery, no electronics of any kind,” Knockaround says on its website. “Just a beautifully crafted pair of matte black sunglasses with a glossy DuckDuckGo logo, designed to block the sun and never send data to the cloud.”
A satirical outlet joined in with fictional reactions.
“O/10,” said a rating from a fictional user. “Totally useless for perverts.” Another fictional comment read: “Guess I’ll have to violate people’s privacy the old-fashioned way: from the bushes.”
Leave a Reply