UK Cinemas Move to Restrict Meta Smart Glasses

Resistance has been building for months. Critics have nicknamed the glasses “pervert glasses” and “spyware”, and restaurants, pubs, theatres and courtrooms have already imposed restrictions. ATG Theatres (the Ambassador Theatre Group), which operates the Edinburgh Playhouse and other venues, says anyone wearing the glasses during a performance will be asked to remove them. Tim Martin, chief executive of the pub chain Wetherspoons, argued that the devices enable surreptitious surveillance and invade other people's space. Cinema bosses, however, must weigh those objections against a genuine benefit: the glasses can supply tailored subtitles and audio support for customers with hearing loss or impaired vision, an accessibility argument the UKCA said operators cannot simply dismiss.

Meta disputes the portrayal, saying a small light on the frame turns on whenever the glasses are recording, that tamper-detection software blocks capture if the light is obscured, and that limiting the technology would penalise blind and low-vision users. A test by the US broadcaster CBS News complicated that claim: a reporter found the safeguard did not appear to work when the light was covered after recording had already begun, and Meta replied that the feature is designed to detect obstruction before capture starts. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in July that the platform would remove videos harassing unwitting bystanders. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into the glasses in May. Because most American states require only one participant to consent to a recording, Omitowoju argues that wearable cameras strip strangers of the right to refuse.