A car customization company located not too far outside of Atlanta is promoting a product on the TikTok Shop that’s made out of the same vinyl used to wrap vehicles but is designed for a very different purpose.
“Have a pair of Meta glasses and you want to get rid of this indicator, right here?” asks a man in a video posted to the Luxe Wrap Stars account. “I have the perfect solution for you.” Videos promoting these so-called “ghost dots” have been viewed over 2 million times on the social media platform, with at least 500 sets potentially being sold through TikTok.
The product listed on the TikTok Shop under the name “Luxe GhostDots 4 Meta Glasses” comes with a sheet of 20 circular, vinyl stickers, and sells for around $15, plus shipping. The listing for these “stealth mode” dots does not mince words about what they're designed to do. “Block or dim that bright white recording light with these precision-cut vinyl dots,” reads the TikTok Shop description.
Meta, to its credit, put an indicator light in its glasses for a reason. When using a pair of its smart glasses, blocking the indicator light will trigger a message saying that photo and video capabilities are disabled. Still, users have attempted a variety of strategies to get around this safeguard and remove the light indicator, including drilling into the glasses to fully break the LED indicator inside.
Do these stickers actually work? The TikTok seller includes an instructional video for how to bypass Meta’s security measures by blocking certain indicators with your hand while the sticker is attached. Still, reviews of the product in the TikTok Shop are mainly negative, claiming that it doesn’t work as advertised. “Was so excited for these, but the Meta glasses won’t work with this. Continue to say they’re blocking … great idea, though,” reads one review from a verified purchaser.
In response to another negative review of the product, posted a few days ago, the seller encourages buyers to try additional methods if they have problems getting around the safeguards for Meta’s smart glasses. “With the new update, instead of covering only the camera lens to bypass the alert, you have to cover the frame that the camera lens side is on,” reads the seller’s response.
WIRED’s own testing of this approach was not able to bypass Meta’s safety measures, potentially showing that these stickers do not work as advertised, thankfully. When WIRED attempted to replicate the seller’s steps, the glasses recognized that the LED capture light was blocked. “Unblock the front of the glasses to use the camera,” read the notification. However, it’s surprising to see that a product specifically designed to circumvent privacy protections was able to rack up millions of views on TikTok and was allowed to purchase sponsored listings.
During the reporting for this story, TikTok included a sponsored post for the “ghost dots” as part of the algorithmic For You Page after a WIRED journalist clicked on the user's account and resumed scrolling. In the same testing session, when we tabbed away from the FYP to the dedicated TikTok Shop feed, another sponsored listing for the same vinyl sticker appeared in the product feed. At the top of the page, TikTok autofilled the phrase “light dimming stickers” as a potential search term to discover more products.
In Meta’s earnings call last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked up his company’s smart glasses, saying they are “the ideal form factor for AI.” Zuckerberg said he envisions a future where smart glasses are so widely adopted that anyone who is not wearing a pair of AI-enabled smart glasses would be at a “cognitive disadvantage.”
The seller of these “ghost dots,” as well as Meta, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. When WIRED reached out to TikTok to ask about these products being available and promoted through its online shop, the social media company declined to comment on the record.
The evening after WIRED’s messages to TikTok, all of Luxe Wrap Stars products were briefly removed from the platform. The next morning the online storefront was back up and available again for purchasing, vinyl stickers and all.
