Meta's run of bad press continues apace as even Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are being told not to wear Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses.
As reported by The New York Times, acting ICE Director David Venturella told agency employees in a memo to stop wearing Meta's camera-equipped glasses because they count as personal body-worn cameras and cannot be worn in federal workplaces.
"The use of Meta Glasses or similar devices could unintentionally capture, record, or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections," Venturella reportedly wrote.
The ban apparently applies to all ICE employees, not just those agents conducting raids or interacting with the public. It covers all personal devices capable of recording audio or video.
Not the first time
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the Times that this isn't a new policy. "Personally owned body-worn cameras and unauthorized recording are prohibited, as they always have been."
Concern over ICE agents wearing Meta glasses isn't new either. Last year, 404 Media reported on Border Patrol agents who were photographed wearing Meta glasses clearly in recording mode.
In March, The Independent investigated multiple sightings of DHS agents wearing Meta glasses in at least six different states. In some of those instances, agents appearred to be using hte glasses to photograph or record members of the public.
Part of the concern, at least on the government's part, is that personal devices mean the government can lose control of the footage. The videos could be passed on to a personal phone or filter through Meta's platform with no oversight of who can access it or what information is actually in the recording.
And that's all before we get into reports that DHS wants to design its own smart glasses. As reported by Gizmodo in April, the agency wants the glasses specifically for surveilling "illegal aliens." This version would use existing smart glasses combined with biometric databases and facial recognition to "identify people in real time."
Meta's privacy problem
Even outside of government surveillance, privacy concerns are an ongoing problem for Meta and its smart glasses. Recording can be quickly started, and the LED light indicator can easily be circumvented. Plus, there's the report from July that Meta is building "super sensing" glasses that would continuously record your life.
Meta is no stranger to pushing through privacy concerns. The company was sued over privacy claims in March over claims that workers in Kenya were watching intimate footage captured by Meta smart glasses.
In 2025 alone, the company filed a suspicious patent that would allow AI facial recognition glasses to identify people and record automatically, was caught tracking Android users without consent, accused of accessing camera rolls without permission for AI training, and was accused of displaying revealing personal info in the Meta AI discover feed.
Meanwhile, Meta currently faces a $1.4 trillion lawsuit over its claimed failure to protect children on its social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
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