European Eyewear Giant Halts Meta Ray-Ban Sales Over Privacy Liability

Hans Anders halted Ray-Ban smart glasses sales in the Netherlands and Belgium due to ongoing public debate around covert recording and user privacy. The retailer's parent company, Nexeye (backed by private equity firm KKR $KKR), operates 776 stores across five European countries. The Dutch privacy regulator (AP) warned last month that sharing videos of identifiable people in public places without their permission generally violates privacy laws. Consumer rights group Consumentenbond is now threatening to sue Meta if the company doesn't alter the hardware to comply with local privacy regulations. The pushback spans multiple regions, with a UK pub chain restricting the glasses and Meta facing a US lawsuit alleging human annotators viewed captured footage without the subjects' knowledge. "This decision follows the ongoing public and political debate surrounding smart glasses and the questions being raised about the conditions under which this technology can be used." — Hans Anders spokesperson