Meta has been rolling out updates to its smart glasses in an ongoing effort to prevent users from filming people without consent, and the company has bricked the cameras of thousands of users who attempted to dismantle or obscure the LED that shows they're on.
Meta has been tightening the privacy safeguards on its AI-powered glasses after people found ways to record with the camera while obscuring the blinking LED meant to alert bystanders. As Business Insider reports, the latest update is designed to shut down recording whenever the light is covered, disabled, or otherwise tampered with.
The changes follow reports over the past year of people using the spectacles, which have earned the nickname “pervert glasses,” to film others without their knowledge.
Meta had previously released an update intended to stop recording when the LED was covered or tampered with, but users found ways around the protection. A CBS reporter was still able to use the camera by covering the light after she began filming — a loophole that prompted the company to develop additional safeguards.
Under the latest update, glasses with an LED that has been physically destroyed or dismantled will have their cameras permanently disabled — turning the spectacles into glorified bluetooth glasses. Users who merely cover the light with something like a sticker can resume using the camera after removing it.
According to Business Insider, Meta said fewer than one in 1,000 pairs of its glasses have been subject to the enforcement action. But with the company selling 7 million pairs in 2025 alone, that could still mean thousands of devices are affected.
Meta acknowledged that people will likely continue trying to circumvent the protections.
“It’s been a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game,” wrote Alex Himel, Meta’s vice president of augmented reality on social media. “I don’t think we’ll ever be done… There’s always new ways to get around the safeguards that are in place.”
Peta Pixal reports that Meta has also been removing social media posts that provide instructions or services for bypassing the LED, along with thousands of posts tied to harassment, pickup-artist content, and pranks.
__CBS News report__sThe company is now using the security updates as a way to tout the glasses as privacy-conscious technology. Per Business Insider, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth recently called them “the most privacy-forward camera” available to consumers.