Instagram Is Banning Creepy Hidden Camera Videos Filmed With Meta Smart Glasses

Instagram is reportedly banning videos filmed on Meta smart glasses that feature harassment of strangers in public places.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have long raised privacy concerns because they allow people to record others clandestinely and harass strangers in public. Now, Instagram is taking action against videos filmed with Meta smart glasses that feature harassment of people in public — deactivating major pick-up artist accounts on the platform.

According to a report by Business Insider, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says that videos filmed with smart glasses — including Meta Ray-Ban glasses made by its parent company — that harass strangers will no longer be allowed on the platform.

“If you’re posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we’ve heard of and seen, then we’re going to take the content down,” Mosseri says in response to a question on his Instagram Stories last week.

He adds: “We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we’re trying to fight that every way we can.”

According to Business Insider, the policy applies to videos such as pickup clips, in which creators approach people who may not realize they are being recorded, as well as prank videos targeting unsuspecting individuals.

The news outlet reports that two large pickup artist accounts on Instagram, each with more than one million followers, were deactivated after using smart glasses to film women in public. A spokesperson for Meta later confirmed that the accounts were banned for violating the policy about posting harassing content that had been filmed with the glasses. Meta reportedly did not directly respond to questions about how this new policy is being enforced or what exactly constitutes a violation.

The move comes as concerns continue to grow over the use of Meta’s smart glasses for covert recording, with the devices recently being referred to as “pervert glasses” on social media. Meta’s smart glasses include an LED indicator light that flashes while recording. On earlier models, some users found ways to conceal the light by drilling holes into the frame or covering it with tape or film. But in July, Meta announced an update to its smart glasses that disables the camera if the user attempts to conceal the blinking recording indicator light.

Meta is also facing growing competition from Apple, which is reportedly emphasizing privacy as a key feature of its own upcoming smart glasses. Apple’s glasses are expected to be unveiled at its next Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. Apple has considered releasing smart glasses with cameras that assist with AI features, but lack photo and video recording capabilities to set its eyewear apart from Meta.