Instagram bans users who post creepy content recorded with Meta glasses
Instagram has started removing accounts and content obtained by secretly filming people with Meta's smart glasses, acknowledging a widespread issue of harassment. The platform's head, Adam Mosseri, stated that such behavior will not be tolerated.
Meta, which owns both Instagram and the smart glasses, has begun taking action against users who exploit the glasses to record people without consent. According to a report by Business Insider, Instagram has banned several accounts that posted videos recorded with Meta glasses, violating privacy.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said in a social media post: "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kinds of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down. We don't want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform."
Such videos have become common on Instagram, often featuring arrogant creators playing pranks on service workers while secretly recording with Meta glasses or similar devices. Many of these pranks border on harassment. Other videos show men filming interactions with women in public without their knowledge, earning the glasses unfortunate nicknames like "pervert glasses" and "predator glasses."
The exact number of removed videos is unknown, but Business Insider noted that two high-profile accounts that regularly filmed women without consent have been deactivated. Meta confirmed that those accounts were banned specifically for posting harassment content filmed with its glasses.
This is not Meta's only move to curb misuse of smart glasses. The company recently added software that disables the camera entirely if the LED light indicating recording has been tampered with. Previously, people had been hiding the light with tape, film, or by drilling holes, leading to a cottage industry of "jailbreaking" glasses to record without the light.
The software fix is too recent to gauge its impact. Also, the LED light is not very bright and can be easily missed, especially outdoors in natural light. Nevertheless, it's positive that Meta is finally addressing a problem it helped create.
