Meta is updating its AI-powered smart glasses to close a loophole that allowed wearers to keep recording after covering the front-facing LED. Alex Himel, Meta's vice president of augmented reality, writes in a post on Threads that "the camera will now stop working if the light is covered during a recording." The glasses already disable their built-in cameras if someone covers the LED capture light — the light blinks to alert others that you're recording or taking a picture — but some wearers found they could bypass the restriction by covering the LED after starting a recording. The fix comes a little over a month after Meta updated its glasses to turn off the camera when wearers physically tamper with the capture light. Meta is also trying to spread "awareness" about the LED by launching its own campaign in communities "where glasses sales have been popular," according to spokesperson Albert Aydin. A billboard currently up in Los Angeles shows the smart glasses alongside a caption that reads: "The camera lets you capture the moment. The light lets everyone around you know when you do." A shared Meta video says the capture LED "signals when the glasses are capturing photos and videos," and that "no light" means "no capture." The push comes amid concerns surrounding privacy and harassment — some wearers recording others without their consent and filming social media "pranks" on random bystanders — coupled with a report about Meta adding a facial recognition feature, which have culminated in a global campaign against the smart glasses. "Only a tiny minority of people try to get around these protections, and the fact they have to go to these lengths shows our efforts are working," Himel writes.
Meta addresses 'pervert glasses' reputation with a privacy fix and a new marketing campaign
updated at 2026-08-27