Meta is stepping up its push into physical retail, open-source AI, and military-grade AR and VR technology, but each move is attracting scrutiny and raising new questions about ethics, transparency, and the company’s strategic direction.
Meta has changed the default settings on its Ray-Ban smart glasses, meaning voice recordings and photos may now be stored and used to train its AI, unless users take action to stop it.
In a landmark antitrust trial now under way in Washington, the US government is trying to force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that its dominance of personal social networking is illegal and harmful to competition.
Meta is introducing stricter controls on how teenagers interact with its apps – including new parental permissions for Instagram and an expanded rollout of Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger.