Meta unveils camera-free Ray-Ban audio smart glasses
Meta has unveiled Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses with no camera and no recording, following criticism that its earlier smart glasses were used to film people without consent.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Meta has unveiled a camera-free version of its smart glasses, called Ray-Ban Meta Audio. The new model does everything the current glasses do, such as playing music, making phone calls and sending messages. It cannot film because it has no camera, and it does not record anything either.
The move comes three years after the original Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses were released. Those glasses have AI features and a built-in camera. They have faced serious criticism for being used by some people to secretly film and harass women and girls. A white light comes on to show when the camera is in use. Meta says it has worked hard to stop people disabling the light to hide when they are filming.
During a test of the existing glasses, the camera was described as the least-used feature and the most controversial. One critic said: 'It should never ever have left the lab at Meta. It's a tool for, it can be useful for the blind, but essentially it is something that doesn't belong in your glasses. You know, it should never ever have been mass marketed to the public in that way.'
Meta said the audio-only version had been in development for two years and was not a response to the backlash. A company spokesperson said: 'We wanna offer different options for different people based on what they're looking for. It's also coming in at the most accessible price point within the product line. So if you're looking for a great pair of audio glasses, we now have a product for you.'
Smart glasses can offer hands-free help to blind people and workers in trades such as construction by describing surroundings and identifying objects. Other technology companies are also looking at the market. The hope is that smart glasses will feature in many letters to Santa this Christmas, but that may depend on whether they can shed their reputation for being creepy.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| Meta announced an audio-only, camera-free version of its smart glasses and said it had been in development for two years and was not a response to backlash. | |
| Meta's existing camera-equipped smart glasses have faced criticism for being used to secretly film and harass women and girls. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC ONE West concentrated on the privacy row around Meta's camera-equipped smart glasses and the launch of a camera-free audio alternative. It combined a hands-on test of the existing glasses with criticism from a campaigner and Meta's claim that the audio model was already two years in development. The tone was measured and consumer-focused, with no other channels available for comparison.
- “It should never ever have left the lab at Meta.”
- “We wanna offer different options for different people based on what they're looking for.”
- “What you can't do is film on them because they don't have a camera and they don't record anything either.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.