Across New York City, London and Washington, DC, ads for Meta’s smart glasses have been plastered over with satirical posters from activist groups. One guerrilla ad calls these “the biggest advancement in pervert technology since the trenchcoat.” Another transposes the words “mass surveillance predator glasses” over influencer Kylie Jenner’s face, calling her out for partnering with the company as a glasses ambassador.

Meta seems spooked. For so long, the company’s privacy efforts have relied on a single LED light and a policy that could be summed up as ‘don’t be a jerk.’ Unfortunately, plenty of Meta glassholes have emerged over the last three years, filming often-sexualized videos of others without their consent.

“Tech companies are not at all looked upon with favor right now,” says Uttara Ananthakrishnan. “Compounded with the fact that we live in an age of social media, where anything that we say and everything that we do – we could be liable for it.”

Ananthakrishnan is skeptical that smart glasses will take off outside specific workplaces, not just because of social stigma, but because societal attitudes toward Big Tech companies have shifted. She points out how people feel about individual privacy is different than when they are responsible for others’ privacy.

“There’s a lot more awareness that there are bad people on the internet who could do really terrible things compared to the smartphone era,” says Ananthakrishnan. “So, is it even possible for Meta – or any other smart glasses company – to reassure a skittish public? Or are its recent attempts simply too little, too late?”