People will have to surrender their devices for safekeeping before they’re allowed in court.
By Mariella Moon July 9, 2026 9:30 am EST
Meta New York wants to make sure nobody can surreptitiously record court proceedings using their smart glasses. Starting on July 20, all courts in the New York state will officially ban smart glasses within their premises. It applies to New York's 1,240 state, county, city, town and village courts. According to the local publication Syracuse, signs announcing the ban were posted last week on the doors of the Honorable James C. Torney III Criminal Courthouse.
The ban prohibits all types of eyewear and headwear equipped with cameras and microphones inside all Unified Court System facilities. Even smart glasses with prescription lenses are included, and the signs being posted on courthouses are asking people to bring a regular pair of glasses to use while they're inside. While some courts in other states, such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, already do not allow smart glasses on their premises, New York is the first state to issue a blanket ban.
Why did the state ban smart glasses in court?
Recording generally isn't permitted in courts, and the New York State Unified Court System's rules explicitly state that "taking photographs, films or videotapes, or audiotaping, broadcasting or telecasting, in a courthouse including any courtroom, office or hallway thereof, at any time or on any occasion, whether or not the court is in session, is forbidden."
Smart glasses could make it easier to record in a sneaky way, seeing as there's no need to raise a camera or a phone to start taking a video. They typically do have lights that switch on and blink to indicate that the user is currently taking photos or recording videos, but users could disable them or get them removed by a modder for a price.
One high profile instance that brought attention to the use of smart glasses in court happened in February, when Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg testified in a jury trial over social media addiction. Members of his team were wearing Meta Ray-Ban glasses when they escorted him inside, prompting the judge to issue a warning not to record courtroom proceedings with the devices. While it wasn't clear if any of them had used their glasses in court prior to the warning, the judge was reportedly concerned about the jurors being recorded and identified.
To note, smart glasses by Meta, which are perhaps the most popular and easily accessible these days, won't take photos or videos if the device's system detects that its capture LED is covered. The company, in a post addressing the backlash against its devices, also said that it's rolling out an update that will disable the camera if its system detects that the capture LED had been physically tampered with or destroyed.
How will the ban be enforced?
It doesn't matter if the user gets their glasses modified, because New York's courts will not even let them take their devices inside. People wearing them will have to leave them with uniformed court officers before they're allowed inside a building, even if they're lawyers or staff members.
More smart glasses restrictions
Earlier this year, the Royal Caribbean cruise line banned smart glasses in certain areas onboard, including public restrooms, Youth Program areas, medical areas and casinos. MSC Cruises issued a partial ban for the devices last year, citing privacy concerns. Illinois lawmakers are also considering adding smart glasses to the list of prohibited devices for drivers as part of their efforts to curb distracted driving. We'll likely see more places put a restriction on the devices as people's concerns about their ability to take videos and images on the sly continue to grow.
