I keep saying there are literally millions of good reasons to wear a respie in public, and people keep ignoring me.
Can unfortunately confirm this is 100% real. Sources and more info below.
EFF's Threat Lab used static code analysis to confirm Meta deployed facial recognition to millions of Ray-Ban smart glasses. The "Name Tag"
TL;DR: On June 4, 2026, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published “Move Fast, Surveil Things,” confirming through static code analysis that Meta has already deployed facial recognition code to millions of Ray-Ban smart glasses. The internal “Name Tag” feature converts every face in view into a 2,048-number faceprint array and matches it against a stored database. An EFF researcher activated the feature in debug mode and watched the glasses detect a known face in real time. Meta’s spokesperson says this is just “evidence of exploration.” Exploration doesn’t ship to millions of devices. This is staging for launch, and internal documents show Meta planned to flip the switch while privacy groups were too busy to fight back. ...You don’t need a central database when every user builds their own local faceprint collection. The faces still get scanned. The biometric data still gets created. Meta just outsources the storage to your phone, and the legal liability to you.
-via State of Surveillance, June 7, 2026. Emphasis mine.
But good news! There are things you can do to protect yourself and your community. As quoted from the article:
What You Can Do
Assume You’re Being Scanned
If someone near you is wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses, treat it like a running camera, because it is. The small LED indicator that’s supposed to signal recording can be covered with tape, and Meta’s “always enabled” mode processes video without activating it [6]. The Nearby Glasses app can detect Meta Ray-Bans via Bluetooth.
Lock Down Your Meta Profiles
Name Tag matches faces against Meta platform data. If you have Facebook or Instagram accounts, set your profile photo to something that isn’t your face. Make your accounts private. Better yet, consider whether you need them at all. Every photo of your face on Meta’s platforms is training data for identifying you later.
Support the Legal Pushback
The EFF, ACLU, and EPIC are fighting this on legal, legislative, and technical fronts. Texas’s investigation proves state-level enforcement works: Meta paid $1.4 billion last time Texas came knocking over biometrics. Push for biometric privacy laws in your state. Illinois and Texas showed the way.
Don’t Buy the Glasses
Every pair sold expands the surveillance network. Meta has shipped millions already. Each one is a camera pointed at everyone else. If you own a pair, understand that the facial recognition code is on your device right now, and Meta can activate it with a software update whenever they decide the political moment is right.
-via State of Surveillance, June 7, 2026. Emphasis mine. And remember that for an undocumented person in the US right now, facial recognition spyware identifying them could be the difference between life and death.
Just days after a damning WIRED report exposed that Meta had quietly embedded facial recognition technology (FRT) code into millions of phon
Hey good news they're already quietly removed the code!!!!
Public outcry matters!!!
But still don't buy the glasses, they can add the code back in by pushing an invisible update whenever they please
