--- title: "Pervs Distraught as Meta Bricks Their Smart Glasses Remotely" description: "Meta has started disabling its smart glasses' cameras of customers who tampered with their recording light." date: "2026-09-07" modified: "2026-09-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-bricks-perv-smart-glasses" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "Meta" - "Privacy" --- # Pervs Distraught as Meta Bricks Their Smart Glasses Remotely ![A person is shown wearing a pair of Meta's smart glasses.]() *Shutterstock / Alexander Fedosov* In an affront to creeps everywhere, Meta has started remotely bricking the smart glasses of wearers who try to secretly record other people. Earlier this month, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company said it would crack down on customers who modified the spectacles to disable or cover up their lights that indicate when they're recording, amid incredible public backlash against how the glasses are being used to film people without their consent — [girls and women especially]() — and [harass them](). Now, it looks like more than a few weirdos have gotten the ax. On Tuesday, Meta said it's bricked the photo and video-taking capabilities on thousands of its smart glasses users, as part of a software update that was [reported by *Semafor*](). Meta didn't provide hard numbers, but its vice president of wearables Alex Himel told *Semafor* that it estimated that less than one tenth of a percent of all glasses sold have been tampered with. Seven million of the glasses were sold in 2025, making that fraction of a percentage translate to up to, but probably less than, 7,000 individual units. More than a sign of Meta caring about people's privacy, it goes to show that the abuse of its "pervert glasses" wasn't down to just a few bad apples. A few thousand doesn't sound like a lot, but it's worth remembering that this crackdown only applies to customers who physically tampered with their glasses to disable the recording light. There's no doubt that many people using the glasses to creepily record people have made no effort to modify their devices or hide that they're recording. Instagram, which is owned by Meta, recently began suspending some influencers who filmed themselves using the glasses as they aggressively hit on girls and women, often by making sexually explicit and provocative comments. The social media platform's head Adam Mosseri vowed to crackdown on the harassment in "every way we can." Still, these efforts are a drop in the bucket, and with Meta reportedly planning to stuff the glasses with facial recognition tech, members of the public who aren't convinced that Meta has their best interests in mind have taken matters into their own hands. Many establishments are outright banning smart glasses, [including popular nightclubs](). Some feel strongly enough about the glass that they're confronting people who wear them in public. Himel, Meta's VP of wearables, admitted that it's fighting an uphill battle. "It's been a little bit of a cat and mouse game," Himel told *Semafor*, adding that "I don't think we'll ever be done... There's always new ways to get around the safeguards that are in place. So we're going to keep monitoring and evolving the measures that we have." **More on smart glasses:** [*Meta Hit With Sweeping New Claims That Its AI Glasses Violated the Consent of "Millions" of Bystanders in Searing Lawsuit*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()