Kylie Jenner might be one of the only celebrities who can be the face of a marketing campaign and not show her own face in the ad. In collaboration with apparel and eyewear company Ray-Ban, Jenner recently became the newest face of marketing for Meta’s AI glasses, which allow users to record videos, take photos, answer phone calls, listen to music, use a built-in translator and ask Meta AI questions hands-free. Now, they can do it all with Jenner’s voice instead.
The ad is filmed from Jenner’s perspective. She uses the glasses to get ready in the morning, say hello to her cat and sneak away from her barrage of personal assistants to spray paint a not-so-mysterious message on an isolated billboard: “6/23 — xo Kylie.”
While the campaign may seem harmless, many have raised privacy concerns about the Meta glasses. Unlike traditional phones and cameras, there is little indication of when the glasses are recording. Meta’s website states its glasses feature a small LED light that blinks when recording and flashes once when taking a photo, but in public, this small light can be almost impossible to detect, especially when the presence of Meta Glasses are concealed. After all, Meta Glasses look strikingly similar to prescription eyewear.
Their easily concealable nature is part of why privacy concerns have been at the forefront of the criticism directed at the company. It poses security concerns for all citizens, but it also heightens the threats that AI poses for women’s safety. They have been widely used to record women in public without their consent. These videos are often uploaded onto public sites and used to harass women. This could take place in the gym, the grocery store or the park — the Meta Glasses have made it easier than ever for harassers to target women. Not only that, but the glasses essentially function as surveillance cameras. Nowhere is private and anyone could be easily recorded and stalked using Meta footage. This is especially concerning for stalking or domestic abuse victims who prefer to stay offline for their own safety.
Women’s safety has been one of the most prevalent concerns throughout the advent of artificial intelligence. The dangers are so widespread that UN Women published a Frequently Asked Questions page solely about the issue. AI-powered online abuse has become more widespread than ever, and it is increasingly being used to generate sexually explicit and abusive images of women and girls without their consent. Almost all deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic material, and 99% of their victims are women.
The issue of deepfakes is prevalent and yet overwhelmingly unaddressed. Without addressing these concerns among others, it is vastly irresponsible to release and market technology like the Meta Glasses, as they facilitate the creation of non-consensual material targeting women. They create a situation where no environment is safe.
Meta’s marketing tactics prey on their untapped female customer base. By having popular female public figures promote their glasses, they attempt to erase the harm and abuse their product is making possible without taking measures to make real change.
Knowing this, the choice to use Jenner as the face of Meta’s new marketing campaign becomes not just irresponsible, but manipulative. Being one of the world’s most well-known socialites and entrepreneurs, Jenner is a person with remarkable social influence. To use this image in order to market a product that inherently puts women’s safety at risk is deeply unethical.
Some have argued in favor of the glasses, saying that the possibility for misuse does not invalidate the product’s other beneficial features. One of these advocates is social media creator Rida Tharaana; Tharaana has over a million followers on Instagram making content surrounding female empowerment. After marketing Meta Glasses as part of a brand deal, she received significant backlash from her audience. In response, she acknowledged that promoting the glasses was a mistake, but that all tools could be misused. A kitchen knife could be used to cut vegetables but could also be used to kill. She ultimately argues that it comes down to intent and use, and that the product cannot be entirely dismissed.
Other creators have disagreed. Instagram commentator Parth Kelkar pointed out that the Meta Glasses, unlike a kitchen knife, are designed to profit off misuse. Whether through the videos it takes or the data it collects, it all goes back to make Meta more profit. And with Meta already having unsafe data security measures, it is no surprise that the company is ready to profit off a product with such major ethical concerns.
The blame cannot be put solely on the shoulders of public figures like Jenner and Tharaana. Ultimately, by using prominent female celebrities, Meta only shows that it values profit over customer safety. It aims to use these celebrity endorsements in order to draw attention away from AI abuse and market to a female customer base without taking concrete steps in order to mitigate the dangers they may face as a result of the product itself. Meta as a company must be held accountable for the products it promotes and the behaviour it encourages.
Shanaaz Faisal is an Opinion Intern for the summer 2026 quarter. She can be reached at shanaazf@uci.edu.
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