Face off: Meta’s Glasses and America’s internet kill switch
From Smashing Security by Graham Cluley
February 19, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 455
About this episode
Graham Cluley and guest James Ball discuss tech sovereignty, the potential for America to influence Europe's internet, and Meta's controversial plans for facial recognition in smart glasses.
Could America turn off Europe's internet? That’s one of the questions that Graham and special guest James Ball will be exploring as they discuss tech sovereignty. Could Gmail, cloud services, and critical infrastructure really become geopolitical leverage? And is anyone actually building a Plan B? Plus we explore if Meta is quietly plotting to turn its smart glasses into face-recognising surveillance specs? With reports of internal memos suggesting they plan to launch controversial features while everyone’s distracted by political chaos, we ask: is this innovation really wanted by the public... or something far creepier? All of this, and much more, in episode 455 of the award-winning "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity veteran Graham Cluley, joined this week by journalist and author James Ball. EPISODE LINKS: IcedID malware developer fakes his own death to escape the FBI - Risky Business. Sex toys maker Tenga says hacker stole customer information - TechCrunch. Dutch police arrest man for "hacking" after accidentally sending him confidential files - Hot for Security. Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses - New York Times. Trading…
People in this episode
Host: Graham Cluley
Guest: James Ball
Topics covered
- tech sovereignty
- geopolitical leverage
- facial recognition
- surveillance technology
- internet infrastructure
- Meta's smart glasses
Keywords
- Meta
- facial recognition
- internet kill switch
- tech sovereignty
- geopolitical leverage
- smart glasses
- surveillance
- Graham Cluley
- James Ball
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Meta, Gmail, New York Times, TechCrunch, Just Security
Books & works: Just Mercy, The Residence
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