Meta has removed the controversial Muse Image feature on Instagram that allowed any user to generate AI creations using public accounts’ photos without notification or consent, just days after it launched.
The feature, built by Meta Superintelligence Labs and released on July 7, let users @-mention public Instagram accounts and incorporate their existing photos into AI-generated images. Only private accounts and users under 18 were automatically excluded. Those affected were never notified when their images were used.
The backlash was immediate. Talent agency CAA (Creative Artists Agency) raised concerns, and TechCrunch published a step-by-step guide on how to disable the feature, a process that required manually navigating three menu levels and toggling off separate settings for posts and reels.
By Friday, July 10, Meta reversed course. “Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way,” the company said in a blog post. “We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available.”
The rapid retreat underscores the heightened sensitivity around AI-generated content on social media. AI tools have been widely misused to generate non-consensual deepfake images, particularly of female celebrities, and the Muse Image feature was widely seen as enabling similar abuse by allowing strangers to use any public photo as raw material for AI manipulation.
Meta has not said whether it plans to reintroduce the feature with stronger consent mechanisms. The company faces a broader trust deficit on privacy matters: it was fined US$5 billion (approximately £4.0 billion) by the FTC in 2019 for privacy violations, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal affected up to 87 million accounts.
Sources: Meta removes controversial AI feature on Instagram after backlash (TechCrunch, Jul 10, 2026)