Meta's Muse Image can use your photos by default, and here is how to opt out
Meta’s new AI can use your face, and you never agreed to it.
Muse Image, Meta’s image generator inside Meta AI, WhatsApp and Instagram, lets anyone @ mention a public Instagram account and generate AI images based on that person’s photos. If your account is public and you are an adult, you are opted in by default.
What makes this different
Plenty of AI features arrive with questionable defaults. Three details make this one worth acting on today.
First, the default is opt-in for every public adult account. You did not agree to this; Instagram agreed for you.
Second, you are not notified when someone uses your likeness. A stranger can @ mention your account, generate images based on your photos, and you will never know.
Third, turning it off is not retroactive. Already-generated images stay. Every day the setting remains on is a day of images you cannot recall.
Private accounts and users under 18 are excluded automatically. Everyone else is in until they opt out.
How to opt out
The setting is buried but simple, as documented by TechCrunch on July 9, 2026:
- Open Instagram Settings
- Go to “Sharing and reuse”
- Switch off “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta” for posts and reels
That is the entire process. It takes under a minute, and because the opt-out only protects you going forward, sooner genuinely matters more than later.
Why it matters
The pattern here is the story: a likeness feature shipped with default opt-in, no notification, and no retroactive removal puts the entire burden of consent on the person being imitated. Whatever you think of AI image generation, the consent mechanics are backwards, and the only lever you control is the setting above.
Check your settings today, and it is worth telling anyone you know with a public profile to do the same.
Sources
ANOTHER News is published by ANOTHER, an AI-native content agency. Daily coverage also runs on Instagram.
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