Meta Pulls Muse Image Feature After Three Days as Users Remixed Instagram Photos Without Consent

On Friday, July 10, Meta pulled a feature from its Muse Image tool that let any user tag a public Instagram account and generate an image using that person's likeness, without asking for consent or notifying them. The decision came just three days after the feature launched, following sharp pushback from talent agency CAA, actors' union SAG-AFTRA, and privacy advocacy groups.

The mechanism worked on an opt-out basis, meaning it was enabled by default with the option to manually decline. Typing in someone's public Instagram username was enough for Muse Image to generate an image based on photos from that profile. The person whose likeness was used as source material received no notification that their account had been used.

Hollywood Pushback

CAA, the talent agency representing Hollywood stars, was the first to publicly criticize the tool, warning of the risk to image rights and demanding the default settings be changed to opt-in, meaning explicit, informed consent before use. Actors' union SAG-AFTRA went further, urging its members to manually secure their accounts and warning of the consequences of leaving this area unregulated.

Anything short of a clear and affirmative opt-in for this kind of use of Instagram users' photos is unacceptable and represents a gross underestimation of public sentiment around the obvious risks and harms of such use - SAG-AFTRA

Privacy Advocates Weigh In

The criticism wasn't limited to the entertainment industry. Privacy International said the Muse Image episode was another sign that AI companies treat people's photos and data as raw material to be exploited. Foxglove, a tech justice organization, called the feature a recipe for disaster, pointing to a year of harm caused by AI-altered photos created without the consent of the people depicted.

After the wave of criticism, Meta admitted the mistake outright, though without offering a detailed explanation of why the feature launched in this form in the first place.

Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and give people control over whether their public content could be used this way. We heard feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available - Meta

The Default Consent Debate

The Muse Image episode exposed a fundamental dispute playing out around generative AI: should users be responsible for manually opting out of having their face used by AI systems, or should companies be required to ask for explicit consent first? Enabling billions of public profiles by default without informing their owners went considerably further than the practices of competitors, which typically require an affirmative action from the party wanting to use someone else's likeness.

Meta had previously said Muse Image and related video tools were meant to be the foundation of a broader rollout of generative features across WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger. Pulling the controversial option doesn't signal an abandonment of those plans, only a correction to its most contentious element.

What It Means for Polish Users

Although Muse Image initially operated mainly in Stories in the US and in select WhatsApp markets, the episode also matters for European, including Polish, Instagram users. Starting August 2, the EU's AI Act requirements mandating the labeling of AI-generated content take effect, and European data protection and image rights law sets a considerably higher bar than the default opt-out Meta applied. In the European Union, the company would have to reckon with the risk of violating GDPR (known in Poland as RODO) with a similar default-consent mechanism.

The episode also shows how quickly major platforms can reverse course under organized pressure when the image rights of creators and celebrities with strong legal representation are at stake. Ordinary individual users rarely have comparable leverage, raising the question of how effectively the privacy of an average Instagram account would be protected in similar situations in the future.

Sources: Meta suspends Instagram AI image feature after backlash (bbc.com), CAA Slams Meta for Using Opt-Out Policy for AI Platform Muse Image (variety.com), Meta Removes Muse AI Instagram Feature After Backlash (thewrap.com)