Meta’s AI glasses —the so-called smart glasses with a camera embedded in the frame—have quickly (and predictably) become a tool for harassment. Especially when worn by middle school boys. Futurism’s Maggie Harrison DuPré documented the problem in a thorough review of videos posted to TikTok and Instagram.
DuPré found several videos recorded with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses depicting students filming classmates, teachers, and staff, often without their knowledge or consent. The recordings range from harmless vlogs to boys following girls who ask them to stop, mocking girls’ appearances, staging humiliating “pranks,” and copying the aggressive pickup-artist videos that have already made smart glasses infamous.
One recurring pattern in the videos shows boys approaching girls, claiming another student wants their phone number under the guise of needing “help.” The slimy tactics of Internet pickup artists turned into content.
Smart Glasses Are Becoming a New Weapon for School Bullying
Schools are some of the few places that a person can expect a degree of privacy from such tech invasions. As Dupre reports, EdTech Law Center principal Andy Liddell warned that recording at school could create serious legal problems depending on state consent laws. At the mere idea of smart glasses in school, Liddell told Futurism that it’s “a terrible idea.”
TikTok said it removed videos flagged by Futurism. Meta told Futurism that its glasses have a built-in capture light and that schools should set their own rules. The problem, as I wrote in September 2025, is that little indicator light is easy to bypass. Meanwhile, some school districts are banning smart glasses outright, citing concerns ranging from cheating to surveillance and harassment.
It’s clear that the endgame for the tech industry is to make mass surveillance, and therefore mass harassment, a common aspect of our lives that we all have to live with, for fear of infringing on their right to create things that make the vulnerable continue to feel unsafe.
Remember back when anyone caught wearing the early version of smart glasses, Google Glass, was roundly ridiculed and shamed for being such a privacy-invading dweeb? It might be time to bring that back with a vengeance.
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