Facebook Ships VR Headsets With Embarrassing Hidden Inscriptions
Facebook admits that tens of thousands of upcoming Oculus VR controllers ship with internal prototype messages like "Big Brother Is Watching." The company reveals the embarrassing hardware error ahead of two major headset launches.
Facebook admits that tens of thousands of its upcoming virtual reality controllers ship with internal prototype messages that were never meant for final production. The inscriptions include phrases like "This Space For Rent" and "The Masons Were Here," while a smaller number of developer units contain "Hi iFixit! We See You!" and "Big Brother Is Watching." Facebook head of VR product Nate Mitchell publicly confesses to the manufacturing oversight in a series of tweets.
The affected Touch controllers are part of two major hardware releases that Facebook is currently preparing: the $399 standalone Oculus Quest and the $399 PC-tethered Oculus Rift S. Because both systems share the same controller design, this unintentional easter egg spans across both product lines. The hidden messages remain completely invisible during normal use and only appear if a user physically pries open the hardware.
While the inscriptions do not impact the functionality of the devices in any way, the situation represents a significant public relations misstep for the social media giant. Given Facebook's ongoing struggles with user privacy scandals over the past year, shipping developer hardware with the phrase "Big Brother Is Watching" creates an exceptionally awkward optics problem. Nevertheless, the company earns some credit for proactively disclosing the embarrassing mistake before curious buyers discover the hidden text on their own.