Meta secretly tests facial recognition in "smart glasses" with Pentagon partner

According to a "Wired" investigation, "Meta" has secretly worked with "Rank One Computing" – a Denver-based facial recognition firm that supplies technology to the "Pentagon" – to create a prototype of facial recognition technology for its "smart glasses." The board of directors of Rank One includes a "former deputy director of the CIA" and a "former head of the FBI's science department," which highlights the company's deep ties to security structures.

A Pentagon partner behind the lens

According to "Wired," the collaboration focused on creating prototypes of "facial recognition" features for Meta's internal use, intended for its smart glasses. This partnership shows that Meta is deepening its ambitions in the field of "biometric capabilities" for wearable devices – despite repeated public assurances that the company "will not add facial recognition to consumer products without robust privacy protections."

The company "Rank One Computing" is listed on "Nasdaq" under the ticker "ROC" after raising "$24 million" in an initial public offering in "February 2026." It positions itself as the "only provider of multimodal biometric solutions produced 100% in America." Its algorithms have been evaluated by the U.S. "National Institute of Standards and Technology," and its clients include "law enforcement," "border control," and "fintech" sector entities.

The building blocks were already implemented

The revelations about Rank One's role follow a separate "Wired" investigation published on "June 4," according to which Meta had already embedded unreleased "facial recognition code" – internally called "NameTag" – into its companion app "Meta AI." The code was added in several updates throughout the year.

The "NameTag" feature was designed to "identify people" captured by the glasses' camera and to "notify the owner" when a person was recognized. Security experts confirm that the code was present and active in the app, although it was not accessible to end users.

Following a wave of public backlash, Meta removed this code in a "June 5" app update, deleting "face detection models," "biometric databases," and "'person recognized' notification triggers." A Meta representative described previous reports as "sensationalist" and insisted that "nothing reached consumers and no final decision had been made."

Human rights organizations sound the alarm

The revelations have intensified criticism from civil rights organizations. In April, over "75 organizations," led by the "ACLU," sent a letter to Meta CEO "Mark Zuckerberg" warning that equipping "Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses" with a facial recognition feature is a "line that society should not cross."

The "Electronic Privacy Information Center" ("EPIC") separately urged the "Federal Trade Commission" to block such a feature. According to activists, the combination of wearable devices with cameras and facial recognition creates a serious risk of mass real-time surveillance and violation of privacy rights in public spaces.

Meta's official position remains that the company is only "exploring" this technology. However, the partnership with a supplier working for the "defense and intelligence community," combined with the fact that "facial recognition code had already been implemented" in millions of devices, suggests that Meta's research has gone much further than its carefully worded public statements. This raises new questions about transparency, accountability, and the boundary between innovation and mass surveillance.