France Opens Criminal Probe Into Smart Glasses as Privacy Concerns Mount

Paris prosecutors have opened at least one criminal investigation into suspected sexual harassment involving smart glasses, amid widening scrutiny of the camera-equipped devices in France and abroad.

The probe follows complaints tied to a social media trend in which women are filmed on the street without consent and the footage is posted online. The prosecutor's office did not identify the brand of glasses involved. Its cybercrime unit recently tested the devices to better understand the offences they could facilitate.

Meta's AI-enabled glasses, developed with EssilorLuxottica, dominate the market with roughly 76% of global sales. The company sold 7 million units last year, and Essilor's latest figures point to exponential growth in 2026. A Meta spokesperson said privacy had been built into the glasses "from the ground up" and that protections would keep improving. EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.

France's data protection authority, CNIL, said it had received fewer than 10 complaints about smart glasses being used in the workplace, without naming brands. It added that businesses are increasingly asking whether they can ban the devices at work. Nacera Bekhat, CNIL's head of economic affairs, said the glasses pose "real challenges" around informing people they are being filmed and obtaining consent.

Under French law, recording a person's image in a private place without consent can carry up to a year in prison or a €45,000 fine. Enforcement remains difficult, however, especially when content spreads quickly online, according to CNIL and legal sources. A small indicator light in the frames signals recording, but rights groups argue this shifts the burden onto those being filmed.

"Seeing a light come on doesn't mean that you consent to being filmed, nor to have your image distributed to thousands of people afterwards," said Ines Legendre, a legal expert at internet safety organisation e-Enfance.

Rights groups say women are the primary targets of abuse involving the devices. Ines Girard, who works on technology-facilitated gender-based violence at feminist organisation Hubertine Auclert, said the tech industry should do more to prevent misuse. "We can't respond to a surveillance technology by telling the people being surveilled that they should be more vigilant," she said, adding that this places an extra burden on women, gender minorities and others already exposed to violence and online abuse.

Scrutiny is not limited to France. Some UK cinemas have banned smart glasses, and a German consumer advocacy group has filed a criminal complaint against Meta and other companies selling the devices in Germany, citing privacy laws. Australia said it is considering barring camera-equipped smart glasses from government workplaces on privacy and security grounds, in what it described as a possible first of its kind.

AI-enabled wearables fall under the European Union's AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, which govern how personal data may be used.