A new investigation by Wired reveals Meta's ambitious plans. Engineers at the social network are developing a system capable of automatically identifying people within the field of view of smart glasses owners. Findings in the source code of the official app serve as confirmation of work on the project.
NameTag technology: how it works
The internal name for the new feature is NameTag. According to code analysis, the technology is intended for integration with Meta smart glasses, including popular Ray-Ban and Oakley series models. The system works as follows: cameras embedded in the frames capture a person's face image. Subsequently, the app sends a notification to the owner if that person appears in the frame again.
In previous versions of updates, developers had already found interface elements for this feature. In particular, the code contained a "Connections" menu with a hint to "remember people you've met".
Strategic calculation and political context
The existence of the NameTag project was previously confirmed by anonymous sources at the company to the New York Times. According to internal documents, Meta management considered launching the technology during a period of "dynamic political environment" in the US, specifically during elections.
The company's calculation was that civil society organizations and activists, who usually criticize Meta for privacy violations, would be busy solving other important public issues during this period, allowing the function to be introduced less noticeably.
Security and company position
Cybersecurity experts have confirmed that at the moment, no part of the NameTag code is active. The app does not collect or send users' biometric data to Meta servers. However, the regular appearance of code in updates indicates the continuation of engineering tests.
In response to the investigation, Meta's official representative Ryan Daniels stated that the company is in the research stage of this direction and has not made final decisions about releasing the function to the mass market. "We are not creating a central database of faces," Daniels emphasized.
History of face recognition and risks
Meta has a long history of working with face recognition systems. Previously, the technology was used in Facebook for automatically tagging people in photos, but the project was closed in 2021 due to mass user protests concerned about privacy.
In 2024, the technology was returned to Instagram and Facebook, but exclusively as a security tool for identifying faces of public figures in fraudulent ads.
From an engineering point of view, the technology has useful application scenarios, such as helping people with visual impairments identify conversation partners. However, automatic scanning of people on the street raises serious concerns about the possibility of mass surveillance.