--- title: "Meta Is Using Instagram Users’ Photos to Build a Universal Facial Recognition System for Its Hated Smart Glasses, Class Action Lawsuit Claims" description: "Meta is facing a class action lawsuit over its alleged use of users' photos to build a facial recognition system." date: "2026-09-15" modified: "2026-09-15" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor.md" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/meta-instagram-users-photos-facial-recognition-lawsuit" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Cybersecurity" - "Data Privacy" - "Future Society" - "Meta" --- # Meta Is Using Instagram Users’ Photos to Build a Universal Facial Recognition System for Its Hated Smart Glasses, Class Action Lawsuit Claims ![A photo illustration showing a face scan and Meta's smart glasses.]() *Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Futurism* The public messaging surrounding Meta's flashy smart glasses hasn't exactly gone in the company's favor. The camera-equipped devices have garnered a reputation for allowing shady individuals to record strangers without their consent, garnering them the memorable pejorative of "[pervert glasses]()." So when [*Wired* revealed in June]() that Meta had silently added facial recognition code to the smart glasses — stoking fears that the creepy glasses could be used to identify people on the street based on biometric data — that simmering distaste grew into a major PR disaster for the company. Meta has ever since vehemently denied that it was planning on ever releasing the tech, a feature dubbed "NameTag." That's despite its CTO Andrew Bosworth [happily describing those plans in excruciating detail]() in public and arguing it would be a "great feature" — mere days after calling *Wired*'s bombshell reporting "[absolutely dishonest]()." Now, the company is facing a proposed class action lawsuit over the ordeal, as [*Wired* reports](), with a set of families in Illinois and California accusing the company of illegally scraping their Facebook and Instagram photos to build a massive facial recognition system for "NameTag." The news comes just days after a mother in Utah [accused Meta of using its AI to scour Instagram and Facebook posts]() to reveal invasive information about her young daughters. Meta told *Wired* in a statement that the latest "lawsuit is without merit and misrepresents our work." "We've been transparent about how we use people's information to build and improve our AI products," the a spokesperson told *Wired*. "As for NameTags, nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything." The proposed class action accuses Meta of extracting biometric signatures from publicly available social media profiles. As *Wired* first noted in June, these "faceprints" appeared in the code for the AI companion app of its smart glasses. A patent described the software as matching these signatures to profile photos. An AI image generator Meta released called Emu was also trained on a vast swath of user-uploaded images and text. The complainants accuse Meta of using this AI system to harvest biometric data. Meta has already been caught with its pants down after allowing users to generate images inspired by public Instagram accounts, [admitting that it had "missed the mark" with the feature](). The company has a long history of mishandling sensitive user data, [settling a class action lawsuit in 2020]() over an entirely separate facial recognition system for $650 million. In 2024, it [agreed to pay $1.4 billion]() to settle yet another facial recognition data lawsuit in Texas. **More on Meta's glasses:** [*Mother Horrified When Meta’s AI Scours Instagram and Facebook for Invasive Information About Her Young Daughters*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()