A new University of Sydney study analyzed 350 Instagram videos and found a disturbing pattern: men wearing Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are secretly filming women in public, delivering unwanted pickup lines, then posting the footage online for likes and attention.

The women in these videos rarely know they are being recorded. Researchers found that the more hidden the camera, the worse the harassment tends to get. Some people even modify the glasses to disable the recording light meant to warn people nearby.

The harm does not stop when the camera turns off. In 93.3 percent of these videos, comments were left open, and women have described being flooded with abusive messages and phone calls, and even confronted by strangers at their workplace, after being filmed without consent.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said last month that "if you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them... then we're going to take the content down," according to remarks reported by 404 Media. Weeks later, this kind of content is still easy to find.

Meta built a product that makes covert recording effortless, and its own platform is where the resulting harassment spreads. Fixing this takes two things: a recording indicator that cannot be switched off, and real enforcement against harassment content once it is reported, not just a promise.

Women should not have to wonder whether a stranger's glasses are recording them without consent, or brace for what strangers online will say about them afterward.

Sign the petition to demand Meta fix its smart glasses design and finally enforce its own harassment policy on Instagram.