France steps up scrutiny of smart glasses

EssilorLuxottica SA

18/09/2026 07:00

    By Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Howcroft
       PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Paris prosecutors have opened
a criminal probe into suspected sexual harassment involving
smart glasses, while French data protection authorities have
received complaints from businesses, as countries around the
world grapple with the devices' social impact.
    There are several smart glasses available, but U.S. tech
giant Meta's  META.O  glasses made in collaboration with
EssilorLuxottica  ESLX.PA  are the market leader, with a roughly
76% share globally. 
    Meta's AI-enabled glasses, which have a small embedded
camera allowing the wearer to record discreetly, have been a
global hit, selling 7 million units last year. Essilor's latest
sales figures point to "exponential growth" in 2026.
    But their success has led to growing international scrutiny
from prosecutors, regulators, rights groups and companies over
issues including sexual harassment, corporate wrongdoing and
illicit surveillance.    
    Some UK cinemas have banned smart glasses, and a German
consumer advocacy group has filed a criminal complaint against
Meta and other companies involved in selling the devices in
Germany, citing privacy laws.
    The Paris prosecutor's office told Reuters it had recently
opened at least one criminal probe following sexual harassment
complaints related to a social media trend of using smart
glasses to film women on the street, without their consent, and
posting the videos online. The prosecutors did not specify the
brand of devices used.
    It declined to give more details, but said its cybercrime
unit tested the devices two weeks ago to gain a better
understanding of the potential crimes that smart glasses could
be used to commit. 
    A Meta spokesperson said the company had "built privacy into
our AI glasses from the ground up," adding that "we will keep
strengthening our protections as our glasses become even more
capable." EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.
    CNIL, France's data protection authority, said it had
received under 10 complaints around smart glasses being used in
the workplace. It did not disclose which brands. It also said it
was being increasingly contacted by businesses wanting to know
whether they could ban smart glasses at work.
    Australia said on Thursday it is considering barring the use
of camera-equipped smart glasses in government workplaces due to
privacy and security concerns, in what it said could be the
first ban of its kind.
    Smart glasses pose "real challenges" in terms of informing
people that they are being filmed and getting consent when
needed, said CNIL's head of economic affairs Nacera Bekhat.
    AI-enabled wearable devices are regulated by the European
Union's AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, or
GDPR, which set rules on how people's personal data can be
used. 
     Though French law provides privacy protections - including
penalties of up to a year in prison or a €45,000 ($51,700) fine
- for recording the image of a person in a private place without
their consent, enforcement can be difficult, particularly when
content is quickly disseminated online, CNIL and other legal
sources said.
    A small light in the devices' frames indicates that filming
is taking place, but rights groups said that shifts the
responsibility 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, legal expert at internet
safety organisation e-Enfance.
    Women are the primary target of abuse done using smart
glasses, rights groups say.
    Ines Girard, who runs projects relating to
technology-facilitated gender-based violence at feminist
organisation Hubertine Auclert, said the tech industry should do
more to prevent abuse.
    "We can't respond to a surveillance technology by telling
the people being surveilled that they should be more vigilant,"
she said.
    "This places an additional burden on these individuals,
particularly women, gender minorities and people already exposed
to violence, online abuse and scrutiny in public spaces."
     
    ($1 = 0.8704 euros)

    (Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft and Juliette Jabkhiro;
Editing by Gabriel Stargardter and Susan Fenton)
 ((Email: elizabeth.howcroft@thomsonreuters.com))