‘Privacy, Safety, and Freedom’: Famous New York Nightclub Bans Smart Glasses

Basement, a New York City nightclub famous for its strict door policy, announced this week that it is banning smart glasses from its dance floor. Smart glasses, often derided as “pervert glasses,” allow users to record video and post it to social media seamlessly.

Futurism reports that the club, which has long enforced a strict approach to admissions, said in a social media post that anyone wearing or carrying smart glasses, even tucked in a bag, will be asked to leave. Repeat or serious violations could mean a permanent ban from the venue.

Basement framed the move as an extension of its existing no photo, no video rule. “Our no photo/no video policy exists to protect the privacy, safety and freedom of everyone on our dance floor,” the club wrote. It added that smart glasses undermine that goal by design: “Devices that allow discreet recording are incompatible with that policy.” The announcement spelled out how staff will handle offenders: “Anyone bringing smart glasses into the venue, whether wearing them or carrying them in a bag, will be asked to leave and may be permanently banned.”

Breitbart News previously reported that Meta is taking steps to ban users who post harassment videos filmed with Meta smart glasses to Instagram:

Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed the platform’s crackdown on certain types of content filmed using Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in a recent Instagram story response. The new policy specifically targets videos showing harassment of unsuspecting individuals in public locations, including the controversial pickup artist videos and prank content that have proliferated on social media platforms.

“If you’re posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we’ve heard of and seen, then we’re going to take the content down,” Mosseri stated. “We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we’re trying to fight that every way we can.”

The policy change comes after increasing concerns about the misuse of Meta’s smart glasses technology for creating questionable content. There is a growing trend of videos appearing on TikTok and Instagram Reels where content creators film themselves executing pranks on service industry workers while wearing the glasses. These pranks often cross the line into harassment territory, with examples including incidents where creators spray fart spray into candles at retail stores and then ask employees to smell them.

What sets Basement’s ban apart is that it targets the glasses specifically, rather than joining the broader wave of clubs banning phones outright.

Reaction on social media was largely favorable. One commenter riffed on the club’s name, writing “BASEDment,” while another argued for wider adoption: “This should be policy at every club.”