Meta Pulls AI Tool That Allowed Edits of Public Instagram Photos After Backlash

Meta has withdrawn its newly launched AI image feature, Muse Image, just days after its debut following widespread criticism over privacy and consent.

Meta acknowledged that the feature had failed to meet user expectations.

“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. We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available,” the company said in a blog post.

 The feature allowed users to generate and edit AI images using photos from public Instagram accounts simply by tagging a user's Instagram handle in a prompt, without notifying the account owner.

Muse Image, introduced earlier this week by Meta Superintelligence Labs, was positioned as an image generation tool competing with offerings from OpenAI and Google. Besides creating images from text prompts and sketches, it could incorporate photos from public Instagram profiles into AI-generated visuals. 

Public accounts were automatically enrolled in the feature by default, while private accounts and users under 18 were excluded. Users who wanted to opt out had to manually disable the setting in Instagram's ‘Sharing and reuse’ menu or make their accounts private.

The rollout quickly sparked backlash from privacy advocates, creators and entertainment industry groups, who argued that people should not have to opt out of AI systems that use their likeness. Critics also warned that the tool could be misused for impersonation, harassment, non-consensual image editing and deepfakes. 

Actor Hannah Einbinder publicly criticised the feature, while SAG-AFTRA urged members to disable the setting and called for AI systems using people's likenesses to require explicit consent.

“With the dangers of nonconsensual digital replicas well known to all, a feature that encouraged that behavior is unwise. We appreciate its discontinuance. It is the responsible thing to do,” wrote SAG-AFTRA in a post on X.

The controversy centred on Meta’s opt-out approach. Users whose accounts remained public could have their posts and reels used in AI-generated images without receiving any notification. Even after opting out, AI-generated images that had already been created using their content would not be removed.