Meta Sued Over Sending Intimate Smart Glasses Videos to Kenya for AI Training

Intimate recordings reached contractors in Nairobi

Meta is facing a class action lawsuit following an investigation by Swedish outlets Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten that uncovered disturbing practices around the company's AI-powered smart glasses. According to the journalists' findings, Meta's smart glasses were transmitting confidential video footage to human reviewers based in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

The recordings in question were deeply personal: contractors reportedly received footage of sexual activity, shower scenes, and other intimate moments from users' lives. The lawsuit accuses Meta of violating false advertising and privacy laws, noting that the company had previously marketed the glasses as being "designed with privacy protections in mind."

Court documents state: "No reasonable consumer would understand that phrases like 'designed for privacy, controlled by you' and similar promises mean transmitting deeply personal video recordings to human workers abroad."

Why this matters

This case exposes a core tension in the AI wearable market: training neural networks requires human involvement in reviewing and labeling user content. The scale of the potential privacy breach is substantial — Meta sold over 7 million pairs of smart glasses in 2025, more than triple the combined sales figures for 2023 and 2024.

Meta's Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses come equipped with a built-in AI assistant capable of analyzing what the user sees and answering questions about it. Despite growing security concerns, demand for these devices has surged. Yet it is precisely this functionality that creates conditions for massive privacy violations.

What contractors actually saw

The Kenyan workers were tasked with labeling content to train Meta's neural networks. One contractor told Svenska Dagbladet: "We see everything — from living rooms to naked bodies. Meta has this kind of material in its databases."

A former company employee stated that faces in such videos are automatically blurred. However, workers in Kenya reported that this feature does not always function as intended. Additionally, another source revealed that bank card details are sometimes visible in the footage — raising further risks of financial fraud.

Meta's defense: users choose to share

Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton stated that media files from smart glasses remain on the user's device until the owner decides to share them with others or with the company.

According to Clayton, when users provide content to Meta AI, the company occasionally engages contractors to review data in order to improve the user experience. He emphasized that this practice is common across the industry and that Meta implements measures to filter data and protect privacy, preventing the review of identifying information.

Nevertheless, the Swedish journalists' findings cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of these safeguards. The lawsuit could set a precedent for the entire AI wearable industry, where the line between improving user experience and invading personal privacy remains blurred.

In September 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the Meta Ray-Ban Display — the company's first smart glasses with a built-in screen — signaling that Meta intends to double down on this product category despite the controversy.