Wetherspoons Bans Speakerphone Use in 800 Pubs as Backlash Grows Over 'Loudcasting'
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25
Wetherspoons Bans Speakerphone Use in 800 Pubs as Backlash Grows Over 'Loudcasting'
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 25
Summary
Tim Martin last week barred customers from playing calls or videos aloud in Wetherspoons pubs, turning a wider etiquette row over “loudcasting” into a concrete venue policy.
5G, reels and video calls have made unsolicited phone audio more common on trains, buses and in pubs, fueling complaints about adults using speakerphones or watching clips without headphones.
The backlash has already reached politics: Britain’s Liberal Democrats proposed £1,000 fines last year, though critics argue bans and nudge-style messaging would be easier to enforce.
France has already fined one man €200 for taking a loudspeaker call on a station platform, while Transport for London is cited as a model for behavior-changing public campaigns.
The debate revives a 2007-10 furor over “sodcasting,” but the current version is portrayed as more individualistic and more persistent than teenagers briefly playing music in public.