Seconds after Isobel Thomason turned down a stranger on the street asking for her number, he approached her again with an unabashed confession: “I’m actually a content creator – and I’ve been filming this.”
At the same time he pointed to his glasses – frames that 22-year-old Ms Thomason said looked normal to her, but he then explained, were actually smart glasses made by social media giant Meta.
The glasses allow the wearer to film, navigate, and even translate text using their lenses, but experts say they are increasingly being used to film women without their consent, putting them at risk of a slew of online and real-world harms.
Meta said it is aware and “concerned” about a small number of people who “misuse” their products despite measures it said it has put in place to prevent covert recording, but that such issues are not unique to smart glasses.
However, victims told The Independent they believe predators are using the covert nature of the glasses to violate women’s privacy.
“In that moment, I literally felt my heart drop,” the 22-year-old said of the moment the man told her he was filming.
“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, this is so dystopian, so bizarre.’”
She said the man approached her in Manchester’s trendy Northern Quarter when she was alone, and asked for her number. When she turned him down, she says he walked away before getting her attention a second time.
Ms Thomason said the man then told her he regularly posts clips of himself approaching women on social media to “boost men’s confidence”.
Unlike other women who have reported similar incidents, Ms Thomason was asked whether she gave permission for him to post her video online – something she says she did not grant.
But she said she was left feeling “violated” and “scared” by the fact he now had a video of her that she has no control over.
“I had no idea I was being filmed until he told me,” she said. “He could do anything with that video. Even if it is just for personal use, that’s such a concerning thing to think about.
“I was so angry because he framed it in this way of doing something good, but I don’t want to be part of boosting men’s confidence for the sake of secretly being filmed.”
After the incident, she looked up the man on TikTok and found dozens of videos of a similar nature in a trend that is appearing across social media.
The videos are often met with misogynistic comments ridiculing the women’s appearance and attitudes – all of which the creator is able to monetise.
She told The Independent she believes smart glasses should have a more distinctive appearance to stop them being used in these scenarios.
“Do they really need to look like normal glasses with a tiny little camera on the front?” she asked. “It doesn’t make sense. It feels dark.
“If I could look up and recognise them straight away and understand I was being recorded, it would probably make things feel a bit better.”
What are the risks to women?
Incidents of women being filmed without their consent are on the rise, Dr Olga Jurasz, director of the Centre for Protecting Women Online, told The Independent.
She explained that instances like the one Ms Thomason experienced are “alarming” but “sadly not unexpected” for experts in women’s safety.
“I think we generally, over the past 10 years, have seen not only a rise but commonality of these behaviours,” she told The Independent. “Not only are they on the rise, but they are also becoming much more common and sadly more normalised.”
She added that women experience “multifold” harms from this behaviour, including the risk of being victims of deepfakes, having to “guard” their privacy in public spaces, and becoming subject to discussions in comment spaces with a “global” reach.
“The fact that he asked for consent after it happened is pretty much irrelevant,” Dr Jurasz said.
“She had an opportunity to say no, but she does not know whether that recording has been permanently deleted.
“This kind of behaviour completely puts in the spotlight the fact that women do not consent to this.”
Dr Jurasz added that the “discreet” nature of the glasses made them even more “worrying”.
Speaking about the recent controversy over Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool that generated “undressed” images of women, she said men are largely being allowed to “get away” with online behaviour that harms women.
At the moment, recording someone in the way Ms Thomason was filmed is not illegal, as she was in a public space.
“We are well overdue action tackling such behaviours, and that includes legislatively,” she said.
“I think we need to look at how we regulate and how we have laws that are really fit for purpose. Women’s safety is not optional.”
A Meta spokesperson said devices have an LED light that activates whenever content is captured and “tamper detection technology” to stop people covering the light. They added that their terms of service “clearly state” that users should comply with the law and shouldn’t tamper with the product.
“As with any recording device, including phones, people should use smart glasses in a safe, respectful manner, which includes not engaging in harmful activities like harassment, infringing privacy rights, or capturing sensitive information,” they said.
“We are aware and concerned that there are small numbers of users who choose to misuse our products, despite the measures we have put in place. We are dedicated to delivering valuable, safe, and innovative products for people and continually review opportunities to enhance our AI glasses, informed by customer feedback and ongoing research.”
TikTok said it had taken enforcement action against the account after it was contacted by The Independent.
Minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls Jess Phillips said: “Covert filming of women and girls is vile, and we will not let anyone profit from it.
“We’re investing in proper police training on non-contact sexual offences and backing Project Vigilant – a smart, proactive approach already stopping predators before they strike, day or night.
“This government will introduce new laws making it a criminal offence to take intimate images or install equipment to capture them without consent. Nobody’s privacy and safety should ever be up for grabs.”
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