Three US senators have demanded answers from Meta over reported plans to add facial recognition technology to future smart glasses, escalating the issue from privacy-group complaints and media reporting into formal congressional oversight. Senator Edward Markey’s office said Markey, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley wrote to chief executive Mark Zuckerberg seeking details on how Meta would handle consent, surveillance risk and civil-liberties concerns if the technology reaches market.
The lawmakers said the company abandoned facial recognition across its platforms in 2021 after years of criticism over the technology’s ethical and privacy implications. Their new letter argues that putting similar capabilities into wearable cameras could make identification in public spaces far more pervasive, especially if people can be analyzed without any meaningful notice or chance to opt out. The senators asked Meta to respond by April 6.
The letter was prompted by reports that the company intends to release facial-recognition-enabled smart glasses in the current year. The senators are asking how Meta would collect data, what safeguards it would apply, and whether bystanders would be exposed to biometric analysis without their knowledge.
The pressure has been building for weeks. In February, EPIC asked the FTC to investigate Meta’s facial recognition smart-glasses plans. Meta has also been exploring face-scanning Ray-Bans as the company expands its wearable ambitions. The dispute is also unfolding against a broader policy backdrop of scrutiny around surveillance and biometric privacy in multiple jurisdictions.
The lawmakers said they want clarity on how people would be enrolled, what data would be retained, how bystanders could avoid being scanned, and whether the technology could be linked to large-scale databases for real-time identification. Those details would determine whether the glasses operate as a limited device feature or a broader biometric surveillance system.
Sources: Markey Senate Office
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By Cass Kennedy
