Meta has attracted the attention of the authorities in Europe again — this time over alleged privacy breaches by its AI smart glasses.
European Parliament lawmakers and the United Kingdom’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), raised concerns after reports in the Swedish media suggesting that workers subcontracted by Meta viewed sensitive content recorded by the AI glasses.
The reports first appeared in the Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten newspapers and centered on work carried out by a company called Sama in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Sama, the U.S. company, has faced criticism before over its labor practices in Africa for allegedly paying substandard wages, subjecting them to inhumane work environments by requiring them to view and then label offensive and violent images.
The Swedish outlets say they spoke to more than 30 Sama employees who reviewed content and annotated data captured by users’ smart glasses to further train the AI and improve the experience.
The nature of the content Sama’s workers say they viewed has sparked alarm, with Svenska Dagbladet reporting that: “Several describe video material showing bathroom visits, sex and other intimate moments.”
The report goes on to quote one worker who claims: “We see everything — from living rooms to naked bodies. Meta has that type of content in its databases. People can record themselves in the wrong way and not even know what they are recording.”
In response to the allegations, Meta told the BBC: “When people share content with Meta AI, like other companies, we sometimes use contractors to review this data to improve people’s experience with the glasses, as stated in our Privacy Policy. The data is first filtered to protect people’s privacy.”
However, the Swedish media reports suggest that this “filtering,” which can include blurring of faces in images, does not always work.
Meta’s U.K. AI terms of service, meanwhile, do state that: “In some cases, Meta will review your interactions with AIs … and this review may be automated or human.” But they do not specify what exactly will be reviewed by humans.
That prompted the U.K.’s ICO to step in. In a statement issued to the BBC, the commission said: “Service providers must clearly explain what data is collected and how it is used. The claims in this article are concerning. We will be writing to Meta to request information on how it is meeting its obligations under the U.K. data protection law.”
In the EU, meanwhile, media outlet Euractiv reported that members of the European Parliament from 17 countries have written to the European Commission demanding to know what action it is prepared to take to ensure Meta is compliant with EU data protection regulations.
Meta’s AI glasses have proven to be a hit since launch, tripling global sales to 7 million in 2025 and prompting rivals to play catch-up.
The company has had a number of other brushes with the authorities in Europe, raising their ire over blocking other companies’ AI chatbots from WhatsApp, being fined for mishandling Facebook data and also for breaching obligations to provide consumers with services that used less of their data.
