France Opens Criminal Probe Into Smart Glasses as Privacy Concerns Mount (2026-09-18)
Paris prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into suspected sexual harassment involving smart glasses, as France's data watchdog fields workplace complaints and Australia weighs a government ban.
French authorities have opened a criminal investigation into suspected sexual harassment involving smart glasses, underscoring growing unease over the camera-equipped devices.
The Paris prosecutor's office said it had recently launched at least one criminal probe following complaints tied to a social media trend in which women are filmed on the street without their consent and the footage is posted online. The office did not identify the brand of glasses involved.
Its cybercrime unit tested the devices two weeks ago to better understand the offences they could facilitate, the prosecutor's office said, declining to provide further details.
The scrutiny extends beyond France. The country'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 a growing number of businesses have approached it to ask whether they can prohibit the devices at work.
Australia said on Thursday it is considering barring camera-equipped smart glasses from government workplaces on privacy and security grounds, a move it described as potentially the first of its kind.
Meta's AI-enabled glasses, developed with EssilorLuxottica, dominate the market with roughly a 76% global share. The devices, which carry a small embedded camera for discreet recording, sold 7 million units last year, and Essilor's latest figures point to exponential growth in 2026.
A Meta spokesperson said the company had "built privacy into our AI glasses from the ground up" and would keep strengthening protections as the glasses become more capable. EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.
Pressure is also building outside government. 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.
CNIL's head of economic affairs, Nacera Bekhat, said the glasses pose "real challenges" around informing people they are being filmed and obtaining consent where required. AI-enabled wearables fall under the European Union's AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.
French law provides penalties of up to a year in prison or a €45,000 ($51,700) fine for recording a person's image in a private place without consent, but enforcement is difficult, particularly when content spreads quickly online, according to CNIL and legal sources.
A small light in the frames signals that recording is under way, yet rights groups argue this shifts the burden of avoiding being filmed onto the individual. "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.
Women are the primary targets of abuse involving smart glasses, rights groups say. 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 doing so places an extra burden on women, gender minorities and people already exposed to violence and online abuse in public spaces.