After growing up with constant tracking, Zs want their privacy back.
Gen Z didn't grow up with a choice about being watched. Cameras in classrooms, location sharing with parents and friends, doorbell cams on every porch, Face ID to unlock phones. For a long time, the tradeoff felt fine or unnoticeable. It meant more safety, more security, and more convenience.
But as surveillance tech gets more powerful and less visible, that tradeoff is starting to feel less appealing. Gen Zs are asking more questions — who's doing the tracking, why, and what happens to all that data once it's collected?
Surveillance is starting to feel less like a tech problem and more like a culture problem.
Photo by Franco Dupuy via Death To Stock
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HOW THIS IS PLAYING OUT IN CULTURE
Meta is trying to make surveillance cute. The tech giant’s new $399 Starfire Kylie Edition smart glasses feature Kylie Jenner's face and voice with a built-in camera and mic, utilizing the Gen Z it girl to make wearable cameras feel less creepy. On TikTok, people are pointing out the irony. Jenner has talked openly about how exhausting it is to be filmed constantly in the public eye, and now she's the face of a product that does exactly that. Commenters dubbed it "girlboss surveillance capitalism." TikTok creator @whatzaraloves6 even argued that “buying into the collab normalizes filming women without their consent and puts them at risk.”
There’s a new camera network in your neighborhood you’ve probably never noticed. Flock Safety's AI license plate readers are already posted up in thousands of American cities, logging billions of car trips a month. There are around 120,000 Flock cameras across nearly every state, with contracts covering about 40% of U.S. police departments, according to The New York Times. Most drivers have zero clue that they’re being tracked. Now, a counter-movement is on the rise as people catch on. A crowdsourced app called DeFlock maps camera locations, some residents have vandalized cameras outright, and residents of Dayton, Ohio started covering the cameras with trash bags. TikTok users are spreading information about Flock cameras, and asking their audiences to question our current era of mass surveillance.
Surveillance backlash is turning into action.Gen Z for Change is turning surveillance backlash into an organized campaign. The group launched Eyes on AI, a tool that shows people exactly how they’re being tracked, no personal info required. Users can download a full report with recommendations on how to keep their identity and personal data more secure. This could be Gen Z's next big organizing cause, on the level of climate action or gun reform.
Photos from left to right: Parody ad of Kylie Jenner for Meta via USA Today, Flock Camera via New York Times, Eyes On AI interactive website
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WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS
Earn personal data instead of assuming access. Brands often treat personal data as the price of entry. But as Gen Z becomes more conscious of how much is being extracted — and what happens to it — they’ll expect a more clear value exchange. Brands that explain why they need data, what consumers get in return, and give them meaningful control over what they share can build more trust than those relying on default opt-in.
Don’t confuse frictionless with desirable. Brands have spent years engineering friction out of everyday life: auto-login, location tracking, facial recognition, one-click purchases, personalized feeds. Now, the lack of choice is feeling oppressive. Give Gen Z more intentional choices about when and how surveillance technology integrates into their consumer journeys.
Privacy is becoming a brand value. Privacy usually lives in the fine print, product settings, and compliance departments. As surveillance becomes an increasingly hot button issue, privacy will become a meaningful differentiator, particularly in categories where consumers increasingly feel watched. The brands that don’t capture any personal data at all may have increasing cultural cachet in the coming years.
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For more on how Gen Z consumers are gravitating to experiences that require effort, and how brands can lean into intentional friction to deepen engagement, check out our study “How Gen Z Broke the Marketing Funnel, Pt. II: What Now?”
