Lawyers have filed a class action lawsuit against Meta over breaches of privacy. The legal action is in response to reports that Meta contractors watched private videos recorded on the company’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
AI training
Concerns were first raised after Swedish news website Svenska Dagbladet ran a story about one of Meta’s AI training sub-contractors. The company, Sama, is based in Nairobi in Kenya. Its workers, called data annotators, train AI systems. They do this by watching videos and drawing boxes around objects in the videos and inputting the name of the item. This is the process by which AI systems “learn” about the world.
Ray-Ban Meta glasses
Speaking to reporters from Svenska Dagbladet, workers at Sama said that some of the videos they used had been recorded by Ray-Ban Meta glasses. These videos featured private content including people going to the toilet, getting undressed or even having sex.
Other videos also included personal information such as bank details and text messages sent by the wearer of the glasses. In addition, some workers said it made them feel uncomfortable looking at people’s private lives.
Class action lawsuit
As a result of these revelations, a class action lawsuit has been started against Meta. The Engadget website reported that Clarkson Law Firm filed papers in San Francisco on behalf of individuals in California and New Jersey. It’s claimed that the plaintiffs would not have bought the glasses if they knew that their videos would be watched by contractors. They also say that they relied on Meta’s marketing claims about the privacy protections with the glasses. The plaintiffs want both monetary damages and injunctive relief.
What has Meta said?
When asked by Engadget, Meta declined to comment on the case. However, a spokesperson for the company said that that data from its smart glasses is sometimes shared with human contractors. The BBC News website reported that Meta’s terms of service in the UK state, “In some cases Meta will review your interactions with AIs… and this review may be automated or manual (human).” Additionally, the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, has written to Meta expressing concern over the report by Svenska Dagbladet.
What we think
The reports of people’s personal Ray-Ban Meta videos being watched by workers at Sama is very concerning. It seems unlikely that users would knowingly share intimate videos or their bank details. The plaintiffs in this case also claim that they saw marketing material for the glasses which stated they were “designed for privacy.”
Plus, as this is a class action, the implications for Meta are huge. It’s been reported that the company sold over 7 million Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in 2025 alone. If the lawsuit is successful, the financial damages would be substantial. We will keep you updated as the legal action progresses.
