Insights

Meta glasses banned from courts across England and Wales

17 August 2026

5 minutes

Partner, Head of Privacy

Overview

Clara Westbrook, partner and Head of Privacy at Arbor Law, spoke to Business Matters Magazine about the ban of Meta glasses from court buildings across England and Wales.

She comments on what the ban tells us, the gap it exposes between the technology and the rules that govern it. She highlights that whilst the courts have a clear rule to fall back on because recording proceedings has always been prohibited and doing so can be prosecuted as contempt, most organisations have nothing equivalent, and that is where the data protection exposure sits.

As Clara says: “That’s a real problem for data protection: if personal data is captured and stored without people’s knowledge, that’s potentially unlawful processing under UK GDPR, and it can breach a company’s own confidentiality and IT policies.”

Her advice is to look at your own policies now, rather than after an incident.

You can read more here.

Written By

Clara Westbrook

Partner, Head of Privacy

+44 (0)7976 939016 clara.westbrook@arbor.law Connect on LinkedIn

I am Head of Privacy at Arbor Law and have more than 20 years’ experience advising businesses on European and English Data Protection law. I help clients navigate this complex area of law in an accessible and commercial way, enabling them to achieve their business objectives in compliance with data protection law. Before Arbor I was a Director in the International Privacy Center of Expertise at WarnerBros Discovery. Prior to this, my roles include European Data Protection Counsel at Yum! Brands, Senior Data Protection Counsel at Richemont and founder of a data protection consultancy. I also won a scholarship from Lincoln’s Inn for a three month stage at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

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