Meta's camera-enabled glasses have been banned from restaurants, pubs, and theatres across the UK over privacy concerns. The £359 glasses allow wearers to record their surroundings without the knowledge of those nearby.
Venues enforce bans
Popular pub chain Wetherspoons is among the venues prohibiting the glasses to protect the privacy of customers and staff. Founder Tim Martin said: “The general code that applies in our pubs, and most pubs, is that you can’t film customers or employees without their permission.
“Meta glasses seem to breach this code, and common sense, by enabling surreptitious surveillance, so our instinct is to say turn off the cameras. This is akin to our efforts to stop audible playing of videos in our pubs, which also invades people’s space.”
Restaurateurs and theatres follow
Celebrated restaurateur Jeremy King also insists that guests should not wear the recording glasses. He said: “I would never knowingly allow any invasion of guest privacy other than with the eyes we were born with.”
A spokesperson for Soho House’s private members’ clubs said the glasses are not allowed under its no recording policy. Theatres also operate no recording policies, so the glasses, which resemble normal eyewear with tiny embedded cameras, would be prohibited.
ATG Theatres, which owns the Bristol Hippodrome, Edinburgh Playhouse, and various London theatres, said those wearing the glasses during shows will be asked to remove them.
Meta defends privacy features
A Meta spokesperson said: “People use our glasses because they’re genuinely helpful – from listening to music, to live translation or hands-free calls.
“For those wearing them and the people around them, trust matters. That’s why we built privacy into our AI glasses from the ground up.
“For example, every pair has a capture LED that blinks when you take a photo or video that you can save or share, it can’t be turned off. And if someone covers or damages the LED, the camera is disabled.”
