diff --git a/drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc/mei_csi.c b/drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc/mei_csi.c
index c6d8f72e4eec..16791a7f4f15 100644
--- a/drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc/mei_csi.c
+++ b/drivers/media/pci/intel/ivsc/mei_csi.c
@@ -192,7 +192,11 @@ static int mei_csi_send(struct mei_csi *csi, u8 *buf, size_t len)
 
 	/* command response status */
 	ret = csi->cmd_response.status;
-	if (ret) {
+	if (ret == -1) {
+		/* notify privacy on instead of reporting error */
+		ret = 0;
+		v4l2_ctrl_s_ctrl(csi->privacy_ctrl, 1);
+	} else if (ret) {
 		ret = -EINVAL;
 		goto out;
 	}