Meta Removes Secret Face-Recognition Code From Smart Glasses App

Meta Platforms Inc. removed an undisclosed facial-recognition system, internally known as NameTag, from its Meta AI smart glasses companion app on June 8, 2026. The action followed a Wired report revealing that the software was embedded in versions of the app installed on over 50 million phones. The technology was designed to detect faces, convert them into biometric signatures, and match them against a local database.

Company executives initially dismissed the reports. CTO Andrew Bosworth described the findings as incredibly misleading, while other spokespeople maintained the feature did not exist or had not shipped to consumers. However, code analysis later confirmed the company stripped out recognition libraries, storage folders for unrecognized faces, and a Person recognized alert.

Internal documents suggest the company considered launching the technology during a dynamic political environment to distract civil liberties advocates. Privacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU of Massachusetts, condemned the move as the creation of a distributed surveillance machine. The incident has triggered additional scrutiny from the French privacy regulator and European lawmakers regarding biometric data collection.