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Meta smart glasses class action adds privacy and defect claims
The consolidated suit includes 55 counts across class groups for buyers, users, and people recorded, putting new pressure on insurers evaluating coverage for privacy-related data collection.
A 230-page consolidated class action in federal court in San Francisco accuses Meta Platforms and Luxottica of America, the US arm of EssilorLuxottica, of recording people through its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses and sending footage to overseas contractors for labeling and training Meta's AI systems, Insurance Business reports.
The lawsuit, In re Meta AI Glasses Litigation, is assigned to US District Judge Edward M. Chen. The complaint alleges the glasses could switch on unintentionally and that face blurring meant to protect bystanders did not work reliably, including allegations involving private moments captured without clear consent.
The case also references reporting from February by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten, citing interviews with workers at Sama, a Kenyan outsourcing company that did data annotation for Meta. Court records cited by Insurance Business say plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their claims against Samasource Impact Sourcing with prejudice in August.
Insurance Business notes that, beyond the detailed allegations, the way the complaint is structured matters for underwriters, with 55 counts across three proposed classes covering people who bought the glasses, people who used them, and people who were recorded by them. Meta denies the allegations and says its data review is filtered to remove identifying details, and that the glasses show a light when recording while blurring faces and license plates.