Ethical Risks and Governance of Consumer Electroencephalography-Based Neurotechnology: Qualitative Interview Study With Expert Stakeholders

Expert stakeholders across North America, Europe, and Latin America identify governance gaps for consumer EEG neurotechnology, highlighting five interrelated ethical and regulatory themes shaping accountability across product lifecycles.

• Why it matters: Consumer EEG devices blur non-medical self-monitoring and clinical-like uses, creating uncertainty about responsibility for product claims, neurodata privacy, evidential substantiation, and user protection.
• What they did: The study interviewed 19 expert stakeholders from research, clinical practice, engineering, industry, ethics, law, and regulatory policy, then applied reflexive thematic analysis to map how governance challenges and evidence burdens are conceptualized across the ecosystem.
• The result: The findings show oversight responsibilities are distributed across multiple actors and development stages, implying governance should explicitly assign duties for claims, data practices, and user safety with inclusive, context-sensitive participation.

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