A number of private schools in England have banned Meta smart glasses from their grounds, citing fears the discreet built-in cameras could be used for bullying, harassment or breaches of pupil privacy. Haberdashers' Boys' School in Hertfordshire, Woodbridge School in Suffolk and Shrewsbury School in Shropshire are among those introducing or reinforcing rules against the devices, joining a wider British backlash that has already seen courts, universities and pub chains restrict their use.

The glasses, made by Meta in partnership with Ray-Ban and Oakley and priced between £247 and £379, look like ordinary sunglasses but contain hidden cameras enabling covert filming and photography. Schools warned parents the devices could be used to record or livestream content without consent, while a US study found many videos filmed with the glasses involved bullying or harassment of fellow pupils. Elsewhere, courts in England and Wales confiscate the glasses at entry, the University of Glasgow bans them from exams over cheating fears, Wetherspoons prohibits them across its 800-plus pubs, and Instagram has banned accounts found using them for covert filming. Despite the criticism, Meta sold seven million pairs last year, prompting rivals such as Apple to reportedly develop competing camera-equipped devices.