Courts in England and Wales have officially banned Meta glasses, according to a report from The guardian. Any person attempting to enter courthouses with glasses will have them confiscated and will be returned upon departure. Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), which is responsible for all criminal, civil and family courts, is behind the decision.
There is one major reason for this decision, and it is the most obvious. Cameras are prohibited in courtrooms and Meta Glasses are equipped with cameras. Meta Glasses take this a step further, as users can record images without anyone really knowing. This means that someone could, in theory, sit in and record an entire court proceeding without anyone noticing.
“There are clear restrictions on the taking of images or videos within courts and tribunals, which is why the use of Meta glasses is prohibited,” a court spokesperson said. The guardian.
Taking images or videos in courthouses without official permission is a crime and can be prosecuted for contempt of court. HMCTS has made an exception for smartphones in the courtroom, provided they are not used to record anything. However, it will not make a similar exception for smart glasses. After all, you can’t surreptitiously stick a smartphone to your face and film stuff without anyone knowing.
A London court has already encountered problems with smart glasses, but not with the camera system. A man was accused earlier this year of being “assisted or coached in his responses to questions asked of him during cross-examination” by using smart glasses. This was allegedly done via built-in speakers and a connection to a nearby smartphone, although the plaintiff denied the accusation.
Courts on this side of the Atlantic are also wary of smart glasses. New York recently announced a similar courtroom ban. This was done explicitly to prevent people from making secret recordings.
Courts are not the only ones to have rejected Meta Glasses and related smart glasses on the grounds that they can be used to secretly film people. Venues across the UK have banned what some are calling ‘pervert glasses’. This includes the famous Weatherspoons pub chain, various upscale restaurants, members’ clubs, theaters, concert halls and comic conventions.
People are buying Meta Glasses and filming people without their consent, even posting the videos online. This is particularly painful for women. A recent study from the University of Sydney uncovered hundreds of videos on Instagram in which male content creators “pick-up artists” secretly filmed women and posted the content online. About 60 percent of these videos showed behavior classified as potential harassment, and many victims were identified and doxxed.
Mark Zuckerberg and his team don’t seem very concerned about the refusal of these products. Meta’s CEO was recently involved in a high-profile lawsuit over social media addiction and had members of his entourage wearing glasses. The judge had to threaten contempt of court to get them to remove the questionable specifications.
A Meta spokesperson said The guardian that he did not want to comment on the recent judicial ban. The company sold approximately 7 million pairs of Meta Glasses in 2025.
