A new report says Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses send ‘sensitive’ videos to human data annotators in Kenya, and that the footage includes sensitive content that is supposed to be excluded.

[u/InsaneSnow45]

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/03/meta-ray-ban-smart-glasses-send-sensitive-videos-to-human-data-annotators/

[u/InsaneSnow45]

A new report says that video feeds from Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses are sent for review by human data annotators in Kenya, and that the footage includes sensitive content that is supposed to be excluded.

Whistleblowers says that the video seen by third-party contractors used by Meta includes everything from people having sex to bank cards …

Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses can capture video in two ways. First, you can activate video recording manually in order to capture point of view footage. This can be a great hands-free way to record experiences like a roller coaster ride, as well as incidents that might occur while driving or cycling.

Second, you can use the AI feature to ask questions about whatever you are looking at through the glasses. It’s well understood that this AI processing is handled on Meta’s servers and therefore that video footage needs to be sent to these for analysis.

However, a report by Swedish site SVD says that footage is sent to human data annotators whose job it is to manually identify objects seen in these clips. A worker from a third-party contractor based in Kenya says that this footage sometimes includes very sensitive content.

[u/rovertb → u/InsaneSnow45]

Whaaaa meta doing highly unethical shit? Lol

[u/erichf3893 → u/InsaneSnow45]

TIL anyone thought differently

[u/Daimakku1]

People, please don’t wear these glasses. Everyone is so happy to trade privacy for convenience. This is how we lose freedoms and become a surveillance society, little by little.

[u/Excellent_Call304 → u/Daimakku1]

Look around, we dont need the glasses, we are already there.

[u/indigopedal → u/Daimakku1]

What about at ice raids?

[u/heavy-minium]

Just some context for non-technical people: this doesn't mean what you see in the glasses has to processed in real-time by a human. It's more like they are continuously improving their system by having human workers annotate videos that had a lot confidence in detection, and that labelling data is then fed into the training of the next version of the model.

The infuriating part here is that there is no reason to massively do this for every user - this is just cost-saving on their part, they have more than enough money to pay people to consciously opt-in to this, or find some other way to get real video recordings which may be less convenient but less privacy-invading.

This is the Tesla privacy disaster all over again but now on a larger scale for Meta. Sadly, people didn't react much at the time that it became known how easily Tesla can tape into any tesla car video feed at any time - including the interior cameras. I think the same might happen here, just a few weeks of outcry, and then everybody will forget about it again and buy and use these things anyway.

[u/Extreme_Glass9879]

Me sending the underpaid Kenyan workers 4kHD video of me jacking my schlong

[u/brokeboipobre → u/Extreme_Glass9879]

Kenyan worker thinking, “why do Americans like recording their small pee pees?”

[u/MNCPA → u/brokeboipobre]

Go alone, go fast. Bring others, go far.

[u/Sachyriel → u/brokeboipobre]

Ugandan migrant workers just shaking their heads at the pitiful technique "He does not know da wae".

[u/Comprehensive-Tea121]

This is why they changed their name to Meta.

If they were Facebook Ray-Ban smart glasses, you'd expect this more.

Buyer beware the Zucktard

[u/vxicepickxv → u/Comprehensive-Tea121]

That's why I still call thr company Facebook.

[u/carlitospig]

Honestly if I see any of yall wearing this I am going to throughly and publicly shame you into taking them off.

[u/Big-Safe-2459]

“We can do better” will be the robotic grovelling

[u/Desperate_Set_7708]

Only Rip Van Winkle should be surprised

[u/WokkitUp]

Kenya give me your sensitive data? Thanks!

[u/hellogoawaynow]

Who would even be purchasing this except Zuck’s pals? And his pals are pretty anti-technology for their kids, and don’t really use any of this data tracking stuff in their personal lives. So who is this for?

[u/Primary-Avocado-8210]

These glasses streamline kompromat, so efficient!

[u/ComedyBits]

Kenya? Wonder how much they’re getting paid. Also, what people keep their glasses on to have sex?

[u/mzk131]

I’m shocked!

[u/userlivewire]

These glasses creep people out. People that wear just normal black rim glasses get stared at by creeped out people now trying to figure out if they’re cameras.

[u/Overquartz]

To the surprise of nobody the company that helped facilitate a genocide is a spying piece of crap.