Meta is facing a class action lawsuit over its AI smart glasses, with plaintiffs alleging the company misled consumers about the review of footage captured by the devices. Filed on March 4 in a federal court in San Francisco, the lawsuit centers on claims that the company’s marketing overstated the privacy protections offered by its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
The legal action follows Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet’s report that footage captured by Meta’s AI smart glasses is being monitored by workers in Kenya, who review it to train the company’s AI systems. The report states that contractors responsible for labeling objects in video clips have come across private and sensitive scenes recorded by users. They reported viewing intimate content, such as bathroom visits, sexual encounters, and other personal moments.
The lawsuit claims Meta did not reveal the involvement of human reviewers in its AI training. Filed by Clarkson Law Firm, it lists two plaintiffs: Gina Bartone from New Jersey and Mateo Canu from California. Both bought the glasses after marketing described them as “designed for privacy.” The complaint states they relied on these claims and would not have purchased the product had they known that some footage could be reviewed by contractors.
The lawsuit demands monetary damages and injunctive relief. It claims that the review process compromises the product’s privacy assurances. The hidden human review process undermines the privacy features of Meta AI Glasses, turning the device from a personal item into a surveillance tool. This exposes users to significant risks such as dignitary harm, emotional distress, stalking, extortion, identity theft, and damage to reputation, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint also claims that workers reviewing the material have seen sensitive details in recordings. In fact, Meta employees and contractors have described seeing credit card numbers, nudity, sexual activity, and faces they can recognize in the footage they reviewed, and they report that Meta’s supposed anonymization safeguards often do not work reliably.
Meta has not directly commented on the lawsuit but has acknowledged that human reviewers may be involved in some instances.
