Analysis: Meta discreetly added code for an unreleased “NameTag” face-recognition system for its AI smart glasses over multiple Meta AI app updates in 2026
Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta's smart glasses platform.
Wired
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- Like... *twenty years ago* saying people's content was going to be private, and then accidentally making it more and more public every year without their consent. https://www.mattmckeon.com/... @anildash · Anil Dash
- “Not until paragraph 4” is so funny dude @reckless1280 · Nilay Patel
- Andy, you say this like Meta doesn't have a decades-long pattern of shipping things under the radar, then turning them on, or pretending to be surprised by initial pushback, then re-enabling a bad feature after the criticism dies down. It's a strategy the company has perfected. … @anildash · Anil Dash
- I see this take I wrote remains evergreen. [Verge headline: “Meta will ruin its smart glasses by being Meta"] @vicmsong · Victoria Song
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- It's not until paragraph 4 that Wired says this feature is “not enabled.” And then takes until paragraph 16 for Wired to reflect that Meta has no existing plans and this is exploratory. And not until paragraph 10 does Wired quotes its own expert saying the feature is not “exposed to consumers.” … @andymstone · Andy Stone
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Discussion
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@andymstone
Andy Stone
on x
Here's a thing: Wired reports Meta didn't answer several questions about how this will work. How could we? The feature doesn't exist!
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@boztank
Boz
on x
@andymstone incredibly misleading from Wired, sadly we are coming to expect that from them more and more. Absolutely dishonest.
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@dmehro
Dhruv Mehrotra
on x
Happy to have the conversation, Andy. We shared our findings with Meta before publication and asked detailed questions about them. They chose not to respond substantively. You have my email address. If Meta believes any of the technical findings are wrong, let's talk.
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@mikeisaac
Rat King
on x
meta mad at this story b/c the company has stressed it has this is still “exploratory” but you have to admit that using a Foucault photo to test the facial recognition code is pure poetry [image]
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@andymstone
Andy Stone
on x
This is more than shoddy reporting, it's intellectually dishonest. Pure advocacy-driven click bait.
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@rmac18
Ryan Mac
on x
@andymstone what is click bait about this? what a meaningless label. the fact is meta has not been transparent with its plans on facial recognition for years two simple questions: does meta plan to incorporate facial recognition into its glasses? if no, why do your devices hav…
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@dmehro
Dhruv Mehrotra
on x
The story repeatedly states that NameTag is unreleased and not publicly enabled. The question is why facial-recognition infrastructure was already embedded in software distributed to millions of users while Meta said it was still considering the technology.
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@dmehro
Dhruv Mehrotra
on x
Meta says the feature hasn't shipped. The code is nevertheless embedded in the Meta AI app distributed to tens of millions of phones. During testing, researcher @lmbbuchodi loaded Michel Foucaults faceprint into the apps local database and triggered the notification shown below […
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@andymstone
Andy Stone
on x
It's not until ¶4 that Wired says this feature is “not enabled.” And then takes until ¶16 for Wired to reflect that Meta has no existing plans and this is exploratory. And not until ¶10 does Wired quotes its own expert saying the feature is not “exposed to consumers.”
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Georg Zoeller
Georg Zoeller
on linkedin
You can thank your governments when this goes live in your country. We already know how it goes because the Russian economy has had similar features …
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@skriptorium.info
Alastair Millar
on bluesky
Well that's not dystopian at all, then. [embedded post]
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@eatyrselffitter
@eatyrselffitter
on bluesky
we really have to find ways to make it far more painful for these scumbags to use “better to beg forgiveness than ask permission” as a mantra for all their sneaky creep shit. — www.wired.com/story/meta-s...
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@khshan
@khshan
on bluesky
Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones — Lord save us from the tech madmen. — www.wired.com/story/meta-s...
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@rob-sheridan.com
Rob Sheridan
on bluesky
This was very obviously always the plan, and anyone who believed that Meta had any qualms about maximum privacy invasion is a rube. We must deploy rigorous mockery to fully socially ostracize anyone who attempts to wear these things. We have to go full Scoble on Meta glasses. …
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@malwarejake
Jake Williams
on bluesky
F*ck Meta and anyone who works for them. If you're working on this, you're part of the problem. You're a bad person. [embedded post]
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@dell
Dell Cameron
on bluesky
Meta is unhappy b/c they handed us a boiler plate statement that just repeats things we already wrote at the top of the piece (minus calling our work “sensational"). — We sent Meta a full explanation of what was in the piece and provided 10 detailed questions. They refused to …
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@dell
Dell Cameron
on bluesky
This is a real notification received after the researcher, Buchodi, loaded an image of French philosopher Michel Foucault into the local faceprint db, demonstrating a fully functioning FR pipeline using three ExecuTorch models. [image]
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@dell
Dell Cameron
on bluesky
You can read a technical breakdown from one of the external researchers who reproduced our findings here: [embedded post]
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@couts
Andrew Couts
on bluesky
NEW: A @wired.com analysis of Meta's app for its smart glasses found that the company has been adding code for face recognition since January, while saying that it is still “thinking through” whether to deploy it. @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.…
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@dell
Dell Cameron
on bluesky
NEW: WIRED analyzed Meta's AI app and found NameTag — a hidden facial recognition system designed to identify people via the wearer's smart glasses — has already shipped to over 50 million phones.
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@eff@mastodon.social
@eff@mastodon.social
on mastodon
EFF's Threat Lab confirmed @WIRED's finding that Meta has deployed facial recognition code to millions of their always-on surveillance glasses. https://www.eff.org/...
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r/virtualreality
r
on reddit
Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones
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r/esist
r
on reddit
Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones
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r/BetterOffline
r
on reddit
Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones
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@hypervisible.blacksky.app
@hypervisible.blacksky.app
on bluesky
Really hate that the point of tech companies now is to see which one can iterate the most socially (environmentally, politically) destructive products. [embedded post]
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@crkrjx
Lisa Schiff
on bluesky
Meta quietly added facial recognition code for smart glasses to its app — The news comes just a month after 70 organizations, including the ACLU & Fight for the Future, sent a letter to Meta, urging the company to “immediately halt & publicly disavow” plans to add facial rec to…
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r/technology
r
on reddit
Meta's ships facial recognition on smart glasses