London Pushes Back Against Meta Smart Glasses Over Privacy Concerns

London pubs, theaters and other venues are restricting smart glasses as concerns grow over privacy, covert recording and piracy.

Meta's smart glasses are facing growing resistance in London, where pubs, restaurants, theaters and other venues are introducing restrictions over concerns about covert recording, privacy and the difficulty of knowing when someone is being filmed.

The backlash comes as camera-equipped smart glasses become increasingly popular. The devices can capture video, photographs and audio from the wearer's perspective, raising new questions about consent in public places where people may not realize they are being recorded.

EssilorLuxottica, which partners with Meta on its smart glasses, said 7 million pairs of AI-powered glasses were sold in 2025. Meanwhile, shipments of smart glasses increased 212% year over year during the first half of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research. Meta was estimated to account for about 84% of the market.

London Businesses Restrict Smart Glasses

The rapid growth of the technology has been accompanied by growing concern among London businesses and consumers.

Wetherspoons, one of Britain's major pub chains, has prohibited customers from using smart glasses to record inside its venues. Some customers told CNN they were uncomfortable with the possibility of being filmed without their knowledge and did not know where recordings could eventually be shared.

A Wetherspoons spokesperson summarized the company's position by saying its instinct regarding Meta's glasses was to “turn the cameras off.”

The concerns extend beyond pubs. ATG Entertainment, which operates several West End theaters, including the Piccadilly Theatre, told CNN that customers caught wearing the glasses would be asked to remove them and delete any footage.

The UK Cinema Association has also said that many movie theaters in the country are banning smart glasses because of concerns about piracy.

The Problem With Invisible Recording

One of the biggest challenges surrounding smart glasses is that recording can be less obvious than with a conventional smartphone or camera.

Meta's glasses have a light designed to indicate when photographs or video are being captured. However, concerns have emerged about whether users can circumvent that safeguard.

Meta said in August that it had updated its glasses to prevent people from covering the recording light after recording had begun. The company also said it had taken action against social-media videos showing people using its AI glasses to harass others.

Meta argues that the recording indicator gives people a signal that other everyday cameras, including smartphones, do not necessarily provide.

But privacy experts say the broader problem is more difficult to solve.

Calli Shroeder, director of the AI and Human Rights program at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told CNN that potential technical solutions—such as automatically blurring people's faces or requiring consent before videos can be uploaded—would be difficult to implement and might not eliminate the risks entirely.

Another possible approach would be to make smart glasses recognize sensitive locations and automatically disable recording in places such as playgrounds or locker rooms. However, that solution could itself create new privacy concerns because it would require the glasses to understand and monitor their surroundings.

London Is Becoming a Test Case for Smart Glasses

London is not the only place where smart glasses are encountering resistance.

The CNN report also points to New York and Australia as places where businesses and institutions have responded to concerns about the technology. In the United Kingdom, smart glasses were also prohibited in courtrooms across England and Wales in August.

Anti-smart-glasses messaging has also appeared in London. Some advertisements have criticized Meta's marketing campaign, including one that referenced the company's celebrity promotion featuring Kylie Jenner.

For critics, the issue is not simply whether a person can legally record in a particular location. It is whether people should be expected to constantly monitor everyone around them for a tiny camera that may be recording.

Irina Raicu, director of the internet ethics program at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, previously told CNN that the technology makes it increasingly difficult for people to protect themselves simply by looking around for cameras.

Theater Operators Have Another Concern: Piracy

Privacy is only part of the problem for entertainment venues.

At London's theaters, smart glasses could potentially allow audience members to record performances without permission. That creates concerns not only for audience privacy but also for actors, productions and intellectual property.

A waiter and theater director interviewed by CNN argued that part of the appeal of live theater is experiencing a performance without spoilers or pre-existing recordings influencing the audience's expectations.

For movie theaters, the concern is more directly connected to piracy. The UK Cinema Association said many cinemas were banning smart glasses because the devices could potentially be used to record films.

That means venues are dealing with two overlapping problems: protecting people from unwanted recording and protecting copyrighted performances from unauthorized copying.

Meta Says Smart Glasses Have Important Benefits

Meta maintains that its smart glasses offer legitimate benefits beyond entertainment and photography.

The company says the devices can allow users to listen to music, make hands-free calls and access features such as live translation while remaining focused on their surroundings.

Meta also argues that smart glasses can be particularly useful for people with visual impairments.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People has warned that excessive regulation could remove an important accessibility tool from people who are blind or visually impaired. According to the organization, the technology can help users with tasks such as reading restaurant menus, identifying street signs and describing their surroundings.

This creates a difficult policy balance. Restrictions designed to prevent covert recording could also limit legitimate uses of the same technology.

Google and Samsung Face the Same Privacy Challenge

The privacy debate is not limited to Meta.

Google encountered similar concerns more than a decade ago when it attempted to popularize Google Glass. The product was eventually discontinued, but the questions surrounding wearable cameras have returned as a new generation of AI-powered glasses reaches consumers.

Google and Samsung are now developing another generation of smart glasses, with Google's software and Samsung's hardware expected to compete in the same emerging market.

Sameer Samat, Google's president of the Android ecosystem, told CNN that details such as how glasses indicate recording and whether users can bypass those safeguards are extremely important.

Samsung's upcoming glasses using Google's software are also expected to include a privacy light designed to resist tampering.

The Smart Glasses Race Is Accelerating

Despite the controversy, technology companies continue to invest heavily in wearable computing.

The broader ambition is to make glasses capable of understanding and processing the world around the wearer, potentially turning them into a new platform for artificial intelligence.

That could eventually make smart glasses an alternative interface for AI assistants, allowing people to interact with digital services without constantly reaching for a smartphone.

Meta is among the companies betting heavily on that future. But the company's success may depend on more than hardware, battery life or AI capabilities.

It will also need to convince people that wearable cameras can coexist with basic expectations of privacy.

As smart glasses become more common, London may offer an early indication of how consumers, businesses and regulators respond when technology makes recording increasingly difficult to detect.

The central question is no longer simply whether smart glasses can become the next major consumer technology platform. It is whether people will feel comfortable living around them.

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