UK Cinemas Act to Limit Meta Smart Glasses

Anger at the glasses has been growing for months. Critics call them “pervert glasses” and “spyware”, and restaurants, pubs, theatres and courtrooms have already restricted them. ATG Theatres (the Ambassador Theatre Group), which runs the Edinburgh Playhouse and other venues, says anyone wearing the glasses during a show must take them off. Tim Martin, the boss of the pub chain Wetherspoons, said the glasses allow secret filming and invade other people's space. Cinema managers, however, also see a benefit: the glasses can give personalised subtitles to customers who cannot hear well.

Meta rejects the criticism. It says a small light comes on whenever the glasses are recording, that software stops filming if the light is covered, and that limits would hurt blind users. A test by the US broadcaster CBS News found that the safeguard failed when a reporter covered the light after recording had started. Meta replied that the system is designed to notice the problem before filming begins. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in July that the app would delete videos that harass people. In May, Texas began an official investigation into the glasses.