Wetherspoon bars Meta smart glasses across all 800 UK pubs

JD Wetherspoon has banned Meta's camera-equipped Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses from all 800 of its UK pubs, the hospitality chain confirmed, framing the move under its existing no-filming-without-permission house code and data-protection controls on CCTV.

UK cinemas and theatres are following suit. The UK Cinema Association said many of its member venues are introducing or tightening policies against the camera-equipped eyewear, citing privacy and film-piracy concerns — treating the popular consumer wearable the same as a phone camera where recording was already restricted.

A Wetherspoon spokesperson said: "Meta glasses seem to breach this code, and common sense, by enabling surreptitious surveillance, so our instinct is to [ban them]." The chain's policy is consistent with its general house rule that customers and employees cannot be filmed without permission.

Meta, which has sold the glasses since 2021 through its Ray-Ban and Oakley partnerships, pushed back. Around seven million pairs were sold last year, per the report. A Meta spokesperson said the glasses are used for music, live translation, hands-free calls, and accessibility tools for blind and low-vision users, and argued any limits should be "applied consistently and proportionately."

The UKCA said the policy area is still developing and that it will keep working with members to keep the approach "relevant and proportionate." The association did not specify which cinema chains have formally adopted the new rules, or whether the restriction extends to lobby areas as well as auditoriums.

This is a development update to "Camera-equipped smart glasses meet UK cinema's no-recording rule".