Key facts
- Safeguarding minister Satvir Kaur said the government is looking into options to restrict smart glasses in certain settings and limit sales to certain users.
- Kaur said people who use smart glasses to film already risk breaking the law in settings such as courts where cameras are prohibited.
- Kaur said NHS England and the Department for Education are looking into wearable technology in certain settings.
- Liberal Democrat MP Anna Sabine, who led the debate, said women report finding videos of themselves filmed without consent by men wearing smart glasses.
- Sabine said advertisements for the glasses list filming discreetly as a selling point.
- Kaur said smart glasses can be hugely beneficial, citing use by visually impaired people to navigate.
The UK government is considering restrictions on smart glasses, including limits on selling the technology to certain users, safeguarding minister Satvir Kaur told the House of Commons on November 4, 2026. Kaur said the benefits of the devices must be weighed against the harms they can cause and that the government is already looking into options to restrict them in certain settings.
Kaur said people who use smart glasses to film already risk breaking the law in settings such as courts where cameras are prohibited. She said other settings, including healthcare and education, have existing safeguarding or professional policies relevant to smart glasses and digital recording, and that NHS England and the Department for Education are looking into wearable technology in certain settings.
Anna Sabine, a Liberal Democrat MP and the party's culture spokesperson who held Wednesday's debate, said women report waking up after nights out to find videos of themselves filmed without their knowledge or consent by men wearing smart glasses. Sabine said advertisements list filming discreetly as a selling point and that she did not want parliamentarians to regulate only once it is too late.
Kaur said smart glasses, which can come with built-in cameras, microphones and displays, could be hugely beneficial to some people, citing visually impaired users who rely on them to navigate. Jason O'Connell, a Reform UK MS for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, has defended his use of smart glasses in the Senedd debating chamber, telling the BBC's Politics Wales he read a speech from an in-built teleprompter feature in his glasses last month to avoid looking down at notes.