Ray-Ban Meta stealth stickers go viral but fail to beat safeguards

Anyone talking to a Ray-Ban Meta wearer probably wants to know if they’re being recorded, which is why the tech giant added a recording light to its smart glasses. However, that hasn’t stopped some people from trying to cover it up.

As Wired outlines, a vinyl sticker called “Ghost Dots” has been making the rounds on TikTok. It is promoted as a way to block the recording indicator light on Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. The products, which are sold through TikTok Shop by a car customization company, promise to “block or dim that bright white recording light” with tiny precision-cut dots. Videos marketing the product have racked up more than two million views, and at least 500 sets may have been sold.

In theory, covering the light disables the glasses’ ability to record, as Meta built that safeguard into the product. But the TikTok seller claims you can bypass that protection by covering part of the glasses while applying the dot. Reviews suggest it’s not that simple, with negative comments mostly advising that the dots don’t manage to fool the glasses.

Wired tried it too, and confirmed that Meta’s protections still kick in when the light is blocked. The glasses simply throw up a warning and stop recording. Still, it’s not great that a workaround like this was able to get listed and promoted through TikTok’s official shop.

That visibility didn’t last. After Wired contacted TikTok for comment, the Ghost Dots store briefly disappeared, only to return the next morning with the stickers back on sale. Meta didn’t respond to the publication’s requests for comment on the report, nor did the seller of the Ghost Dots.

In Meta’s recent earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes AI-enabled smart glasses will eventually be so widespread that not wearing them would put you at a cognitive disadvantage. It’s not surprising that the manufacturer of a product is urging everyone to buy it, but if people manage to disable the recording indicator, the vision of a future with everyone wearing them takes a creepy turn.