Paris prosecutors open criminal probe into smart glasses after harassment complaints

Paris prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into suspected sexual harassment carried out using smart glasses, marking a new stage in growing regulatory scrutiny of the AI enabled devices across France.

The Paris prosecutor’s office told journalists it recently opened at least one criminal probe following complaints tied to a social media trend in which people used smart glasses to secretly film women on the street without their consent, then posted the footage online. Prosecutors declined to name the brand of device involved but said their cybercrime unit had tested several models two weeks earlier to better understand what kinds of offences the technology could enable.

The scrutiny lands squarely on a market segment that has grown explosively over the past two years. Several manufacturers now sell AI equipped smart glasses, but the devices made by Meta in partnership with eyewear company EssilorLuxottica dominate the field, holding roughly 76 percent of global market share. The glasses, fitted with a small embedded camera that lets a wearer record discreetly, sold 7 million units last year, and EssilorLuxottica’s most recent sales figures point to what the company describes as exponential growth continuing through 2026.

That commercial success has drawn attention from a widening circle of prosecutors, data protection regulators, rights organisations and businesses concerned about sexual harassment, corporate espionage and covert surveillance. Nacera Bekhat, head of economic affairs at France’s data protection authority CNIL, said the devices present genuine difficulties around informing bystanders they are being filmed and obtaining consent when it is legally required. AI enabled wearables fall under both the European Union’s AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation, which together govern how personal data collected by such devices can be gathered and used.

French law already provides some protection against covert filming, carrying penalties of up to a year in prison or a fine of 45,000 euros, roughly 51,700 dollars, for recording someone’s image in a private setting without consent. Legal sources, including CNIL, said enforcing those protections against smart glasses remains difficult in practice, particularly once footage spreads quickly online and becomes nearly impossible to fully remove. Most devices include a small indicator light meant to show when recording is active, but rights groups argue that design places the burden of avoiding being filmed on the individual rather than on the person wearing the device.

CNIL said it has also received a smaller volume of complaints, fewer than ten, related to smart glasses being used inside workplaces, where employers and staff have raised questions about whether the devices should be restricted or banned outright given the privacy risks they pose in professional settings.

A Meta spokesperson said the company had built privacy protections into its AI glasses from the outset and would continue strengthening those safeguards as the devices become more capable. EssilorLuxottica declined to comment on the investigation.

The French inquiry adds to a pattern of growing global unease over AI powered wearables that can record audio, video or images without an obvious external signal to those nearby. Courts in England and Wales have already barred the use of certain smart glasses inside courtrooms, and city and national authorities elsewhere in Europe have begun weighing similar restrictions in schools and other sensitive settings. As adoption accelerates and the hardware becomes more discreet and more capable, regulators across multiple jurisdictions appear increasingly focused on closing gaps between existing privacy law, written before such devices existed, and the practical realities of policing covert recording in public and professional spaces.