‘He Records Women Unknowingly’: Austin Woman Meets Potential Suitor At H-E-B. Then She Finds Out Who He Is

An Austin-area woman is going viral on TikTok after a chance encounter at her local H-E-B took a turn she never saw coming.

Brittany (@manic.muse) says she was using the self-checkout a few days before the New Year when a man she described as “cute” approached her and asked if he could talk to her outside. The two started chatting, and before long, he asked if he could walk her to her car.

“I realize this is probably not the smartest move in most scenarios, but he felt pretty non-threatening and was super attractive,” Brittany explains.

Once they got to her car, the pair exchanged numbers. Then came an unexpected request. He asked if he could pop her back.

“I would let a homeless man pop my back because it’s my weakness,” Brittany says. “So I said yes.”
At the time, she didn’t think much of it. But as she soon learned, the interaction was not nearly as innocent as it seemed. As of Thursday, Brittany’s story-time video had racked up more than 1.1 million views.

Who Was He?

After getting home, Brittany told her sister about the encounter and mentioned that the man had been wearing glasses. That detail immediately set off alarm bells.

Her sister asked if they were Meta glasses, which can discreetly record video. Brittany said she wasn’t sure.

Not long after, the man, who Brittany later learned is named Julian, texted her and suggested hanging out the next day. During their conversation, she asked for his full name, but he only shared his middle name. Even so, Brittany says she was able to track down his social media, where one account had roughly 30,000 followers.

That’s when things clicked. The account, she says, was filled with videos of him approaching and interacting with women, all recorded and posted online without their knowledge.

“He records women unknowingly while he’s trying to pick them up on 6th Street, usually drunk girls,” Brittany says.

Brittany later confronted him directly, asking if he had recorded her during their interaction. She says she got no response. After following up and asking him “please” not to post her, the video still went live the next day.

“He has gained almost 30,000 new followers, and the video is at nearly 7 million views,” Brittany said.

As of this writing, the video has 11.2 million views. The creator did not respond to an emailed inquiry sent Friday afternoon.

Using Meta Glasses To Record Strangers

Wearing Meta glasses to record strangers raises obvious privacy questions, but whether it’s actually allowed comes down to where you are and what exactly you’re capturing.

In most public places, filming video is generally legal, since people aren’t assumed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Audio is where things get trickier. In some states, though not Texas, everyone involved in a conversation must consent to being recorded, which means a video that includes sound can cross a legal line pretty quickly.

And legality isn’t the whole story. Even if you’re technically within the law, the situation can change fast. Continuing to film someone after they’ve asked you to stop—or to not upload the conversation to social media—can open the door to legal issues.

Meta says its smart glasses are designed to signal when recording is in progress via a small white LED on the frame, but, of course, not everyone recognizes this when they’re being recorded, as Brittany says she experienced. Moreover, the company’s guidelines state that users should avoid recording in private spaces, follow local laws, and, above all, be respectful.

If you think someone is recording you without your consent, look for the small light on the glasses. Even if you can’t see it, but feel uncomfortable, don’t be afraid to ask whether they’re recording and tell them to stop. And if the footage shows up online, you can report the video and account to the platform hosting it.

Commenters Can’t Believe H-E-B Man

Viewers who came across Brittany’s clip said they were stunned by the man’s behavior, with many quickly tracking down his TikTok account, where he posts videos of his interactions with women.

“Recording girls without their consent SO gross,” one person commented.

“I hope laws are created to protect people from this kinda stuff,” another added. “That’s so messed up.”

Others focused on what they saw as a bait-and-switch between how he presented himself and what he ultimately did.

“Pretending to be a gentleman but then explicitly ignoring your wishes is so nasty,” a third wrote.
“Meta glasses are soooooo bad for society,” another viewer said.

At least one woman chimed in to say Brittany wasn’t alone.

“This happened to me, I cried for days,” she wrote.

Still, not everyone was fully sympathetic. Some commenters said Brittany should have trusted her instincts more and avoided going outside with a stranger or letting him walk her to her car, regardless of how harmless he seemed.

“Uhhh, stranger danger??? Girl!!” one person posted.

“Survival instincts of a gnat. Why would you even go outside to talk? Never let anyone move you to a secondary location even if it is outside in public,” another warned.

Patch has contacted Brittany via a direct message on TikTok and reached out to Meta through email.

@manic.muse