Hans Anders suspends sales of Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the Netherlands and Belgium over privacy concerns

Dutch eyewear chain Hans Anders has suspended sales of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses in the Netherlands and Belgium over growing privacy concerns, the company said on Friday. According to Reuters, it is one of the first such moves by a retailer.

Sales pulled in the Netherlands and Belgium

Hans Anders is part of the Nexeye group, owned by private equity firm KKR. Nexeye operates 776 stores across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden, but the glasses were sold only in the first two countries. A spokesperson said the 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."

The glasses, developed by Meta together with Ray-Ban, have been removed from both the chain's stores and its online shop, and the product page on its Belgian site is no longer available. A company representative said Hans Anders will wait for more clarity before deciding what place this type of glasses should have in its assortment.

Privacy pressure mounts

The move follows growing Dutch discontent over camera-equipped smart glasses. The country's privacy regulator AP warned last month that videos shot with such glasses showing identifiable people generally cannot be shared or published without their permission, which is difficult to obtain in a public place. This week, consumer rights group Consumentenbond gave Meta until October 13 to bring the glasses into line with privacy law, or face a lawsuit. Dutch online store Wehkamp had already removed them from its range, and Offlimits, a group that fights online abuse, urged Meta and Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica to withdraw the glasses voluntarily until covert recording becomes impossible.

Meta's response and a wider backlash

Meta disputes the criticism. A company spokesperson said every pair with a camera has a bright light on the front that blinks when a photo or video is taken and cannot be turned off, and the camera is disabled if someone covers or tampers with it. Meta says it is continuing to develop the popular glasses. In Britain, pub chain Wetherspoon restricted the use of Meta's glasses over concerns about covert recording, and Meta and Luxottica face a US lawsuit alleging that videos captured by the glasses were viewed by human annotators without the knowledge of the people filmed.

No ban, and rivals keep selling

The glasses are not banned in either country: Hans Anders and Wehkamp removed them voluntarily. In Belgium, other retailers including bol, Pearle and A.S. Adventure continue to sell them. Still, the decision by one of the largest optical chains in the Netherlands shows that camera glasses have become a sensitive product for retailers.