Welcome to the see-and-be-seen surveillance society
You're in the shot — whether you like it or not
“I was an underage girl by herself, I didn’t have security.”
Unless there’s a press pass around their neck, I’m almost never inclined to trust a man with a camera. Kylie Jenner submitted a notable example of this into the record during a recent appearance on the “Therapuss” podcast, hosted by famous friend-for-hire Jake Shane.
Jenner says she doesn’t leave the house much when she’s home in LA, crediting the invasive and predatory tactics used by paparazzi to provoke her through the years. She used the word “diabolical” to describe being called a “slut” by grown, camera-toting men surrounding her car when she was 16 years old.
Videos surfaced this week of Kylie’s 13-year-old niece, North West, at Paris Fashion Week, flanked by security guards and a woman who people speculate is her assistant. Notably absent: parents. She’s being filmed by a crowd, from multiple angles, sitting at the Vetements show. Two other, separate videos feature adult men hugging her.1
I couldn’t help but think about these two testimonies to the danger of being a girl or woman in the public eye … while I watched Kylie Jenner abandon her own testimonies to the danger of being a girl or woman in the public eye so she can promote a pair of sunglasses. The specs designed by the youngest Kardashian run for $399 a pop.
I’d love to know what price she set for her involvement in marketing a product that removes barriers to intrusive, non-consensual recording. Meta AI’s newest glasses would allow the types of men who swarmed Jenner’s car to achieve the same level of intimidation, without extending the same courtesy of letting their subjects know they’re even on camera at all.
No such things were up for discussion during the product release last week. Very Meta. We got an announcement video from Kylie’s perspective. (The quality of the ad makes me doubt it was filmed on the glasses). A blowout NYC bash. And an ELLE exclusive, where Kylie reflects on her deeply considered design philosophy: “Glasses have always been my thing.”
On the Zuck front, he sat for an IRL interview with Complex on launch day (30,000 views 🙂↔️) and did a paywalled text interview with Feed Me using questions solicited from an audience under a gag-order preventing any criticism. Mine, asking why all the richest men in the world can’t buy better taste, was not chosen.
Sending the online speech police to erect rhetorical fencing around — let’s be clear what this is — a personal surveillance device you’re trying to sell … good luck. There are not enough Instagram comment moderators in the world to fight off the backlash unleashed this week.
Who the emerging demographic of this fascist fashion is, what it tells us about our growing surveillance culture, and how collective shaming online is making way for individual action offline … all below!
GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS
I, unrelated to this, just rewatched “The Social Network.” Something twerpy little freshman Mark learns quickly as he’s building The Facebook has clearly stuck with him after all these years: getting girls to notice you is the whole ball game. In college, it’s about sex. In business, it’s about money.
In my head, this is the reason Instagram has been optimized (my least favorite word in the English language) for commerce. I can’t hit three swipes through my feed without getting a shoppable ad. God forbid I ever see a photo of a friend. But who buys products via social media? Women. The interest and attention from women is the only thing that can take tech wearables out of dark, dank dorkiness and into the warmth of mass consumption.
Who better to light that fire and lead the way than “King Kylie,” whose talonesque nail extensions have guided the aesthetic and sartorial whims of hundreds of millions of women for over a decade. Mark Zuckerberg could, literally, never. What he does, literally, always is find vehicles through which he can launder his nerdiness and undersell the societal threat.
“It’s almost fashion first and technology second.”
This one line in a clip on the fifth slide of Zuck’s announcement Instagram dump gives the whole game away. This is “almost” exactly what Meta would like you to believe, and it’s definitely exactly why Meta carefully selected its promotional partners around Kylie. Almost all of the 30 or so featured creators are women or people of color.
On its surface, it makes for an easy sell on social. I saw so many video reviews of the product that made sure to mention how much the glasses don’t feel like tech. Mary Korlin-Downs reveled in this adjustment:
“Whether it be Kylie’s influence or simply Meta’s shift in focus to a fashion-forward, feminine frame, the new released styles are exactly what I’ve been looking for” … “the first pair of Meta’s AI glasses that has felt designed for a female face.”
If you just saw content made by creators who got paid and the thirsty influencers who hope to be paid, you might say, “wow their plan really worked.” But one of the reasons I’m enjoying this timeline is that for every person desperate to sell out to tech oligarchs online, there are usually 10 more ready to shame and explain.
SHAME
When Emily Sundberg came on here touting her new accessory, she got summarily dragged
Big tech influencer accounts taking a mix of strategies — just letting the criticism roll in the comments and act like nothing’s happening or (I suspect based on the other engagement metrics) deleting negative comments
Looking at the official Meta partner posts: Haters have the top comment on posts from Calum Harper, Ava Black, Tabitha Mary, and more
1,000+ likes on the top comment for Terrence O’Connor, Charli xcx collaborator and current it-boy: “Sometimes the bag isn’t worth it”
Love this from Gabriella Karefa-Johnson in Brain Matter :
“So, the shame hasn’t disappeared; I guess it’s just an operating expense of accumulating wealth and power for some. … sanding down your following’s inherent resistance to AI and surveillance tech. You’re a tool. And maybe that feels very close to being important and powerful and useful.”
EXPLAIN
This is where social media becomes a real value-add for all of us.
A reel on why women shouldn’t fall for the “girlbossificaton of AI” (300k views)
It’s at this moment we learn that “AI ethicist” is a job — one that’s needed to help us understand that tech like this has “been used for many years as a form of punishment for violence towards women and historically marginalized communities.”
The peak of creator clarity comes from Dr. Sarah Saska (Books + Rooms), in her post about the feminization of AI:
In the case of Meta’s new glasses, the advertised technology is framed as an afterthought — something women don’t need to concern themselves with. The implementation of their advertised technology will be bad. But it’s the recently discovered covert tech that stands to damage our society the most. Facial recognition … already embedded.
That non-consensual recording the Kardashian family knows all about? It’s already being brought upon unsuspecting young women thanks to the lowkey profile provided by Kylie’s wearable cameras. We’re already seeing an increase in viral content made by men filming unsuspecting women with the intention of embarrassing or harassing them in public.
Jermaine Fowler wrote a must-read Substack about this, including this example:
“Dilara was twenty-one, on her lunch break, when a man chatted her up and filmed it. The clip hit 1.3 million views and carried her phone number in the frame.”
Just last week, Meta requested to be shielded from penalties for child harm. Sounds like something innocent corporations definitely do … lol. Wishing for privacy while partnering with companies dead-set against protecting it is certainly a choice. Kim did it with Tesla. Now Kylie and Meta. What’s next? Kendall for Palantir?
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Rage against these machines is at an all-time high. Surveillance tech sentiment is in the shitter and I really don’t see a way out as long as tech leaders continue to give off movie villain vibes. Even the companies and products you don’t know about are breeding resistance online and in your communities.
