Several restaurants, pubs and theatres in the United Kingdom have banned visitors from using Meta smart glasses with built-in cameras amid concerns about covert filming.
The restrictions apply at a number of London restaurants, Soho House private clubs, the Wetherspoons pub chain and ATG Theatres venues. Visitors are asked to remove the glasses or disable the camera.
The device looks much like ordinary eyewear. An LED on the frame lights up while recording; the camera is designed to stop working if the indicator is covered or damaged.
Meta says it has built safeguards against surreptitious recording into the glasses, but venue operators considered them insufficient to protect the privacy of guests and employees.
In addition to taking photos and video, the glasses support music, voice calls and real-time speech translation. The new model costs £359 in the UK.
