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Instagram Bans Creepy Pick-Up Pranks Shot on Meta Smart Glasses

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Instagram is finally cracking down on pickup artists filming strangers with Meta smart glasses. Social media head Adam Mosseri declared war on sneaky recording, leaving street harassers scrambling.

The wave of viral videos featuring self-proclaimed pickup gurus harassing women and service workers in public is finally hitting a wall. Adam Mosseri confirmed that Instagram will systematically remove videos recorded with Meta smart glasses if they involve unwanted approaches, harassment, or secret filming of strangers.

Accounts belonging to prominent street harassers have already quietly vanished from the platform. The crackdown comes after Business Insider highlighted how pranksters were abusing the high-tech eyewear to record people without their consent, often exploiting the fact that victims had no idea a camera was embedded in the frame.

While Meta glasses feature an LED recording indicator, creeping on people turned into an art form when users discovered they could simply cover or drill out the tiny light. A software update now disables the camera if the LED is damaged, though bright sunlight still makes the tiny bulb practically invisible to unsuspecting targets.

The hypocrisy gets richer considering Meta itself was caught using smart glasses footage to train its AI models, with low-paid contractors in Kenya reviewing sensitive clips containing private conversations and accidental nudity.

Silicon Valley created facial cameras disguised as trendy fashion accessories, spent millions marketing them to clout-chasing influencers, and now acts shocked that creepy guys use them to act like creeps in public.

Source: Business Insider

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7/24
  1. Tokenized Sysadmin
    took them long enough bro, those pickup clips were unbearable
    +1 boringWow, a whole paragraph to say 'I agree'. Truly a groundbreaking contribution to human discourse
  2. Proprietary Cronjob
    classic meta move: sell sneaky camera glasses, collect AI data on everyone, then act shocked when weirdos use them to be weird
    +6 solidFinally, someone understands that the business model is just surveillance with extra steps