AI Startup Friend Halts European Expansion Over GDPR Compliance Concerns
American AI startup Friend has suspended the sale of its controversial AI-powered wearable necklace across the European Union, including France, as the company moves to align its data collection practices with stringent regional privacy laws. The decision underscores the significant regulatory hurdles AI hardware firms face when attempting to scale operations within the EU’s strict legal framework.
The device, which has been commercially available in North America since 2025, is designed to continuously monitor and record the wearer’s surroundings. This core functionality—specifically the ability to capture audio without the explicit consent of the individuals being recorded—has sparked intense debate and recording everything happening around the user.
In France, the product’s arrival was met with immediate political and regulatory pushback. An ecologist deputy alerted the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), prompting the data protection authority to launch its own investigation. The CNIL’s inquiry focuses on the potential capture of sensitive information, the security and storage of that data, and whether the recorded audio is being utilized to train the company’s artificial intelligence models. This regulatory scrutiny has led to the suspension of commercialization within the bloc.
The halt in sales comes despite a high-profile marketing blitz, with advertisements for the device appearing throughout the Paris metro system. However, the company has now prioritized legal alignment over immediate market entry. Avi Schiffmann, CEO of Friend, told Les Echos that the suspension is necessary to ensure the product is fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“We want to ensure that we are entirely compliant with the GDPR before shipping the pendant to the EU, which we are currently working on with our European legal team,” Schiffmann stated on April 5, 2026.
The situation highlights a growing tension between the “always-on” design philosophy of new AI wearables and the “privacy by design” requirements of European law. While the AI necklace has become a talking point in tech circles, its inability to launch in France and the broader EU reflects the stringent barriers facing firms that rely on pervasive data collection. The controversial device’s delayed entry will remain in effect until the startup can satisfy European regulators that its data handling practices meet the required legal standards.
