Meta's AI-powered spectacles, developed with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, have moved from niche gadget to mass-market product with startling speed. The company sold roughly 7 million pairs last year, a jump from a combined 2 million across 2023 and 2024. That growth has brought a parallel surge in alarm across Europe, where politicians, regulators and campaigners are now asking whether the devices, marketed as a convenient way to take photos, film video, translate text and summon an AI assistant, are compatible with fundamental privacy rights.

From novelty to mass market

The current generation of smart glasses traces its lineage to Google's 2013 Glass experiment, which failed to gain traction. Meta's partnership with EssilorLuxottica changed the calculus: the frames look like ordinary Ray-Bans, the price sits near €300, and the integration with Instagram and WhatsApp gives users an immediate social purpose. Analysts estimate the wearable AI market could reach €50 billion by 2030, and Google, Snap and others are preparing competing products. But the commercial momentum has outpaced the regulatory framework.

Covert recording and the 'pervert glasses' label

The backlash crystallised this summer after several incidents in Britain. A 17-year-old girl told Channel 4 News she had been approached by a man who covertly recorded her and their interaction. The case fed a media narrative that labelled the devices 'pervert glasses', a phrase now echoed by elected officials. Meta says it has invested in technical safeguards, including a blinking LED that signals when the camera is active, and that it has pursued companies offering to disable the light, forcing several to shut down. Critics argue the LED is too small to be noticed in many settings and that software workarounds remain possible.

National moves: Oslo bans, Norway legislates, France watches

Norway has moved fastest. Oslo's education authority banned the glasses in schools this week, and the government is drafting regulations that could prohibit facial recognition features in public spaces. In France, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) has urged 'vigilance', stopping short of a ban but signalling that existing data protection law will be enforced rigorously. The French regulator has precedent: in 2022 it fined Clearview AI €20 million for scraping facial images without consent, a signal that biometric processing by private actors faces a high bar.

Brussels hesitates as Parliament presses

At EU level, the response has been cautious. The European Commission says national data protection authorities are 'responsible for monitoring and enforcing' privacy rules under the General Data Protection Regulation and the new AI Act. It declined to specify what further action it might take. Slovak MEP Veronika Cifrova Ostrihonova wrote to the Commission after the first secret-filming cases emerged, asking whether the glasses comply with both regimes. 'I am still awaiting an answer,' she said. The independent European Data Protection Board has commissioned a report on the glasses' 'social acceptability', expected this autumn, which will inform the European Parliament's next steps.

Cross-party pressure for a ban

Inside the Parliament, concern cuts across political groups. Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba, a member of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, did not mince words: 'For me, they are still pervert glasses. As things stand today, we should definitely go for a ban until they are proven safe.' His stance reflects a broader unease that the AI Act's risk-based framework, which classifies real-time biometric identification in public spaces as prohibited, may not yet capture the diffuse, always-on recording capability of consumer smart glasses.

Civil society organises

Outside the institutions, campaigns are gathering momentum. Swedish designer Mateusz Pozar launched the 'Ban Ray' site earlier this year, providing venue signage and stickers after his girlfriend was recorded by two men wearing the devices. 'This is a lever to have a discussion about privacy, personal rights, control over my data,' he said. Pozar also points to reports that Kenya-based content moderators reviewed graphic material captured by Meta's AI glasses, raising questions about the data supply chain. In Britain and Ireland, the 'Stop Smart Glasses' campaign, co-founded by teacher Guy Holder, has collected more than 9,100 signatures on a petition demanding retailers halt sales. At 10,000 signatures the British government must issue a formal response.

For now, the glasses remain on sale across the continent. Meta's next quarterly earnings call, scheduled for late October, will reveal whether the controversy has dented demand or whether the company's technical fixes have reassured buyers. The broader question, whether Europe can enforce privacy by design on a product category that is designed to be invisible, remains unresolved.

People mentioned

  • Veronika Cifrova Ostrihonova

    Member of the European Parliament, European Parliament

  • Alex Agius Saliba

    Member of the European Parliament, European Parliament

  • Mateusz Pozar

    Designer and founder of Ban Ray, Ban Ray

  • Guy Holder

    Teacher and campaign founder, Stop Smart Glasses

Organisations

Meta · European Commission · European Parliament · European Data Protection Board · EssilorLuxottica · Norway Ministry of Education