Comedian Joe Rogan says Meta's smart glasses can be threat to privacy, and Zuckerberg basically agrees

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was caught off guard when comedian Joe Rogan asked him whether Meta's smart glasses pose a potential privacy risk, on his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," on Thursday. While Zuckerberg tried his best to defend the glasses in the three-hour-long interview on the Spotify podcast, he ended up conceding that it might be possible to secretly film someone with them.

Meta produces these smart glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban. Launched in September 2021, they come equipped with a small voice-activated camera and microphone in both corners of the glasses frame that allows users to take photos or videos.

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Rogan challenged Zuckerberg in one of the sections of the interview, saying whether such a discreet camera would lead to privacy issues if people could just start filming things. To this Zuckerberg replied that the glasses have a light in the corner that flashes when videos and photos are being taken.

Rogan came back with a "what if" scenario, saying that a creep can simply cover the light with a piece of tape.

Zuckerberg didn't deny the possibility, saying, "I guess, in theory. But it blinks, and it's a pretty active indicator."

The Meta CEO also added that a tape might interfere with the functioning of the camera. He further said that the company is continuously working on better versions.

Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and both the platforms have been in the eye of privacy concerns quite often. In 2019, Facebook was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay a whopping $5 billion penalty for sharing the data of users' Facebook friends with third-party app developers.

(With inputs from agencies)