Instagram is finally targeting individuals who wear Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses and behave creepily.

      Two accounts belonging to pickup artists, each boasting over a million followers, have been removed, but this crackdown appears to be more about managing damage than providing a genuine solution.

      Being filmed without consent by someone wearing Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could soon have serious repercussions on Instagram. According to Business Insider, the platform has begun to remove videos where users have harassed unsuspecting individuals, including staged pickup line interactions and workplace pranks involving cashiers and fast-food workers. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, addressed the situation in a recent Instagram Story, stating that the platform is “trying to combat that in every way possible.”

      Two accounts have been taken down, yet the specifics of the enforcement policy remain unclear. The most apparent actions taken so far are the deactivation of two accounts run by pickup artists who used the glasses to film women in public settings. Each account had amassed a following exceeding a million before they were shut down, and a spokesperson from the company confirmed the removals were directly linked to the new harassment guidelines.

      Instagram has not detailed the policy nor explained the criteria that differentiate videos that are banned from those that remain available. Additionally, the company has not disclosed how many accounts have been affected aside from those two. The absence of specifics makes it difficult for observers to trust the policy and equally challenging for Ray-Ban Meta users to gauge what content is permissible.

      The hardware has its shortcomings. While Ray-Ban Meta glasses feature a small LED to indicate active recording, it is faint enough to be overlooked outdoors and is not widely recognized by the general public. Older models could be easily circumvented with tape or a drilled hole, prompting Meta to add a fix that shuts off the camera if the light is obstructed.

      Apple seems to be addressing this same vulnerability. Reports indicate that the company intends to introduce a more noticeable bright ring around the lens of its own smart glasses, aiming to make the recording process less discreet compared to Meta’s glasses.

      Banning accounts only addresses a symptom rather than the underlying issue. Until Meta’s hardware makes recording more apparent, removing a video afterward does not aid individuals who were unaware they were being filmed initially. Moreover, it does not resolve the problem of recordings that were never uploaded to Instagram in the first place.

      Pranob is an experienced tech journalist with over eight years of experience in consumer technology reporting. His work has been…

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