June 9, 2026 Code discovered inside Meta’s AI app has revealed that the company has been developing facial recognition technology for its AI-powered smart glasses. The unreleased feature, internally known as “NameTag,” would convert faces captured by the glasses into biometric identifiers and compare them against face data stored on a user’s phone.
The discovery was first reported by Wired, whose journalists uncovered code showing how the system could generate facial “faceprints” and check them against a database configured to receive updates from Meta. According to the report, the feature has not been activated and is not currently available to consumers.
Meta described the feature as exploratory and said no final decision has been made about whether it will ever be released. The company also stated that it is not building a central facial recognition database. “We’ve said before we’re exploring these types of features, and what you’re seeing is just evidence of that exploration,” the company said in a statement. “Nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything.”
The report nevertheless reignited concerns among privacy advocates, who have long warned about the implications of combining facial recognition technology with consumer smart glasses. As adoption of Meta’s smart glasses continues to grow, scrutiny around potential surveillance capabilities has also increased.
Several Meta executives strongly criticized Wired’s reporting. Meta spokesperson and Vice President of Communications Andy Stone argued that the article failed to adequately emphasize that the feature remains disabled and unavailable to consumers. “This is more than shoddy reporting, it’s intellectually dishonest,” Stone wrote on social media.
Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth also criticized the report, calling it “absolutely dishonest.”
The NameTag project had previously surfaced in February when The New York Times reported on an internal Meta memo discussing plans for facial recognition features in smart glasses. According to that report, Meta considered launching the technology during a period when organizations likely to oppose it would be focused on other issues.
Following the earlier report, public opposition quickly emerged. In April, 75 organizations signed a letter organized by the American Civil Liberties Union urging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg not to deploy the technology, calling it “a red line society must not cross.”
The controversy also comes against the backdrop of Meta’s previous legal battles involving biometric data. In 2025, the company paid $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit with Texas over its handling of biometric information. Earlier, in 2021, Meta shut down Facebook’s facial recognition photo-tagging system following a separate legal settlement.
While NameTag remains unreleased, the discovery has renewed debate over the role facial recognition technology could play in future consumer devices.
