Instagram is tightening its enforcement against secretly recorded videos captured using Meta’s smart glasses. The platform will now remove content that uses wearable cameras to harass individuals, particularly prank and pickup-style videos, following growing criticism over privacy violations.
The policy change comes after a surge of clips showing creators approaching strangers, service workers, and women in public without their knowledge, then posting the footage as humorous content. This sparked widespread debate about consent and digital privacy.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced the update during a Q&A session on his Instagram Stories. “If you’re posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos, then we’re going to take the content down,” Mosseri said. He added, “We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we’re trying to fight that every way we can.”
According to a Business Insider report, Instagram has already deleted two popular accounts that frequently posted pickup videos recorded with Meta smart glasses. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that both accounts violated Instagram’s harassment policies.
Meta has also introduced additional privacy safeguards in its smart glasses software. The company acknowledged that the recording indicator light on older models could be covered or altered, making it difficult for people to know if they were being recorded. A recent software update now automatically turns off the camera when it detects that the recording indicator light is blocked or tampered with.
Despite these measures, concerns persist about the effectiveness of the recording indicator. The LED light is small and can be easily missed in bright outdoor conditions or large public spaces, leaving people unaware they are being filmed.
Meta has not yet disclosed how it will determine whether uploaded videos violate the new policy, nor has it revealed how many videos have been removed since the policy took effect. The company has also not detailed how the rules will be applied in practice.