Meta disputes claim that Muse AI read Mac messages without a user’s consent

Meta is pushing back against allegations that its Muse AI agent accessed a user’s Messages on Mac without permission, saying the feature works only when users explicitly enable it. Andy Stone, Meta’s head of communications, said on X that the Messages integration in Muse for Mac is "entirely opt-in" and requires two settings to be turned on: Apple’s Full Disk Access in macOS and Muse’s own Messages connector. He added that both permissions can be revoked at any time. The dispute follows an account reported by AppleInsider and described by Inc. columnist Jason Aten, who said he denied message access during setup and later confirmed that Full Disk Access was off on his Mac mini. Even so, Aten said Muse suggested a column idea based on a private text exchange with his podcast co-host and flagged a deadline message from his editor. After asking how the app knew that information, he said Muse incorrectly claimed it had only seen notification banners, while he later found that his local Messages database had been synced. Meta Superintelligence Labs head David Singleton said that explanation from Muse was wrong and stated that the app syncs Messages data only when Messages access is enabled. He also said reading Messages requires three separate permission steps and that macOS protections cannot be bypassed, even if the app had a bug. The dispute lands as Amazon has already blocked Muse over separate concerns tied to browsing behavior and customer credentials.