Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses, focusing on whether the eyewear collects or enables collection of facial geometry and other private data without adequate notice. The inquiry puts bystander privacy at the center of the smart-glasses debate, not just the privacy of the person wearing the device.
The Attorney General’s office issued a Civil Investigative Demand to Meta and said the glasses use cameras, speakers, and other components to capture video, audio, and facial geometry from people the wearer encounters. The office also raised concerns about the small recording indicator light, saying it can be hidden and does not activate in an always-enabled mode.
The investigation also points to Meta’s plans for facial recognition features on consumer eyewear. Internal reporting has described a proposed Name Tag capability that could identify people seen through the glasses. If deployed, that would turn smart glasses into a mobile biometric sensing device, with recognition occurring in public and semi-public settings where bystanders may not know they are being scanned.
Texas has already pursued Meta over biometric data. In 2024, the state reached a 1.4 billion dollar settlement with the company over Facebook’s face-tagging practices. Meta also deactivated Instagram filters for users in Texas and Illinois after biometric privacy litigation, and Facebook’s earlier smart-glasses plans prompted concern that the devices could be used to scan faces.
The Texas investigation shows how mobile and wearable devices are pulling biometric privacy issues out of apps and into physical space. Phones and glasses can act as identity sensors, but the people whose faces are captured may never touch the device or agree to its terms. That creates a consent problem distinct from ordinary app privacy controls.
Sources: Office of the Texas Attorney General, CBS News Texas
–
By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
