Instagram’s Struggle with Harassing Videos Shot on Meta Glasses
Instagram (find out more) blocked certain search terms, but its algorithm still serves these videos, even after promising to remove them.
August 17, 2026
Credit: Shutterstock
These videos, often shot using Meta glasses, depict a man wearing camera glasses approaching a woman in public, delivering a line, and filming her reaction without consent, tagging the video as "shot on Meta glasses." Some of these videos have garnered millions of views.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, stated in July that this behavior had to cease. He promised to remove "harassing" pickup videos under Meta’s existing rules on bullying and harassment.
Nine out of over 20 Business Insider reporters found dozens of these videos still live on Instagram after a month of searching. Meta removed nine videos but admitted that thousands of pieces of content and several large accounts had been taken down.
The problem lies in the pattern of their removal:
- A large account that was initially deactivated returned after a few days, and Meta blamed an error.
- Another account with 174,000 followers was deactivated, then restored after the owner appealed.
This issue isn’t unique to Instagram; TikTok, YouTube, and even Instagram itself have taken down some of these videos.
A concerning development is that interacting with these videos led to Reels serving even more of them, suggesting that Instagram’s recommendation system is optimized for such content.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have begun quantifying the problem, calling it "Invisible Harassment."