--- title: "The Worst People Alive Are Obsessed With Meta’s Video Recording Glasses" description: "Meta's biggest fans for its video-recording Ray-Bans? Creeps and obnoxious pranksters that film themselves harassing people." date: "2026-01-28" modified: "2026-01-28" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-glasses-fans" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # The Worst People Alive Are Obsessed With Meta’s Video Recording Glasses ![Creeps and obnoxious pranksters that film themselves harassing people are absolutely loving using Meta Ray-Bans and other smart glasses.]() *worst-people-alive-obsessed-smart-glasses* There's something about smart glasses that bring out the worst in people. It's really no mystery, though: they're powerful little surveillance devices that let wearers secretly record anyone they're looking at, uniting tech bros and vapid influencers under the same, obnoxious umbrella. The popularity of wearables like [Meta Ray-Bans]() are quickly reminding us why the slang term "glasshole" was already a thing over a decade ago, and is now becoming more relevant than ever. In a handy but blood-pressure-raising [round-up of contemporary glasshole behavior from *Mashable*](), jerks using the always-on devices are using them to film themselves doing moronic "pranks" for views — often centered around harassing women, service workers, and homeless people. Unfortunately, one class of obnoxious blowhard that's discovered the utility of this tech are "pickup artists," who now have the ability to record the women they're "seducing" — read: harassing — discreetly, in a clear violation of their privacy. Of course, smart glasses alone can't be blamed for this. It's social media, it's the attention economy, it's the smartphones that we all use to participate in all of the above. But it's undeniable that smart glasses let you record anyone and anything far more stealthily than shoving a phone in someone's face, making it a godsend for creeps and losers looking for internet fame, such as one Instagram account that nonconsensually filmed women's butts, and another that visits massage parlors to ogle the masseuses. Others confidently film themselves annoying service workers and keeping the camera going even as the subject asks not to be recorded. And a particularly bizarre channel involves a man pretending to be mentally disabled while talking to unsuspecting firefighters. Unfortunately, these recordings are generally legal if they're taken in public spaces, even in states that have two-party consent laws. Debating its legality, though, may be missing the point, argues Brad Podray, a content creator who formerly went by the name Scumbag Dad. "I know it's legal. I don't care," Podray told *Mashable*. "That's not the discussion. I think it's weird and creepy, and it shows a very predatory mindset." The appeal of the smart glasses, he said, is that they're fairly cheap and allow the creators to capture the candid reactions of the people they harass, making their content feel more authentic. This is spicing up the genre of outlandish prank videos, which lost their appeal as many channels staged their exploits. "They want people who are good on camera, so they're going to hit fast food employees, and they're going to hit pretty girls," Podray said. "A lot of random women walking around aren't going to want to participate in a skit if you ask them to, so they remove the agency entirely by just running the glasses." Unlike when Google first took a stab at smart glasses in 2014, it looks like this time the tech is here to stay. The popularity of products like Meta Ray-Bans has opened up a new market of imitators who are in an arms race to make their smart glasses [as ethically dubious as possible](), perhaps with a little help from AI or [facial recognition software](). But regular people are already getting fed up. When one lady allegedly smashed some dude's smart glasses on the subway, she was [universally hailed as a hero](). May smart glasses make heroes of us all. **More on** **wearables**: [*A Man Bought Meta’s AI Glasses, and Ended Up Wandering the Desert Searching for Aliens to Abduct Him*]() ## 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]()