Who's really looking through these Ray-Ban Meta glasses? | Image by Meta
Meta is making headlines again. Earlier this month, news broke that the company has been secretly developing a facial recognition feature for the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. Now our colleagues at Wired have uncovered the company that Meta hired to help with the task. And it's not good news.
Pentagon supplier Rank One supplied face recognition to Meta
ROC is trusted by the U.S. military, law enforcement, and global FinTech brands. Should we trust it? | Image by ROC
The company that's been helping Meta with face recognition tech is called Rank One Computing. This company secures the vast majority of its revenue, around 80%, from government and defense clients, including the Pentagon.
Rank One Computing specializes in facial recognition, and one of the Pentagon contracts includes a long-range face recognition technology for the U.S. Special Operations Command designed to identify subjects from up to a kilometer away.
Furthermore, Rank One Computing (ROC) features ex-CIA and ex-FBI personnel. Board member Dawn Meyerriecks previously served as the Deputy Director of the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. B. Scott Swann, ROC's Chief Executive Officer, spent more than 18 years in the FBI in various positions.
Recommended For You
How worried are you about facial recognition tech developed by former CIA and FBI personnel?
Ray-Ban Meta's facial recognition feature
Meta's Ray-Ban glasses could potentially scan and record your face data. | Image by Meta
The facial recognition feature that Meta has been apparently developing first surfaced back in February when The New York Times uncovered internal documents mentioning it. What's even more concerning is that Meta tried to stay under the radar with this feature.
The internal documents contain very concerning notions such as the suggestion that the current “dynamic political environment” could distract potential critics of the feature.
Last month Wired found lines of code inside the Meta companion app for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.
Now another piece of the puzzle falls in place. Meta reportedly reached out to Rank One Computing for the company's expertise in facial recognition.
Meta reacts with a strong pushback
Meta says there's no proof it will use the feature. | Image by Meta
Meta reacted with a bunch of official statements, mainly on X. Company representative Ryan Daniels told WIRED that these findings are "merely evidence" that Meta is toying with the idea, and "nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made."
Meanwhile, Andy Stone, Vice President of Communications at Meta, accused Wired of hiding information and cherry-picking what to share with the audience.
Here's Stone's full post on X:
What we've been saying for many months remains true and unchanged: we're exploring these types of features as people regularly express interest in seeing them. Nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything. If we do decide to roll something out, we will take a thoughtful approach and do so with full transparency.
- Andy Stone, Vice President of Communications at Meta
Should we be worried?
Shady features in smart glasses are never a good idea. Ask Google. | Image by Google
Well, on one hand I want to be objective and abstain from meaningless hate or negativity toward Meta. But on the other hand, these reports are piling up, and they don't paint a very pretty picture.
Granted, Meta says there are no indications or proof that the company will use the face recognition system in the end. But what would've happened if The New York Times or Wired hadn't uncovered the existence of the feature in the first place?
It might sound a bit cynical, but Meta has been involved in shady practices tied to users' privacy and data for quite some time, and hiring former FBI and CIA experts to develop face recognition tech isn't reassuring. It's a huge red flag, at least for me.
What do you think about all this? Would you use such a feature on a pair of smart glasses?
Get Visible as low as $20/mo for 1 year. Limited time offer with code: FRESHSTART
$20
/mo
$25
$5 off (20%)
Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: