Meta is refuting a journalist claim that its AI agent Muse read private messages without permission. The issue follows an earlier report from Inc. columnist Jason Aten detailing the incident.
Andy Stone, Meta VP of Communications, pushed back on X by stating the company does not believe the product acted without consent. Stone noted the Messages integration in the Muse app for Mac is entirely opt-in.
Users must enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to read message content. Stone emphasized that the software cannot read messages unless a user takes these steps.
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David Singleton, a Meta Superintelligence Labs executive, responded directly to Aten on Threads. Singleton explained that the required permissions involve three separate steps of application-level permissions and built-in macOS system-level protections. He stated these protections cannot be circumvented even if the application contained a bug.
The process requires explicitly choosing to grant Full Disk Access. This choice allows the user to select the level of access granted to the Messages app, such as None, Read only, or Read. Without Full Disk Access enabled, these specific options remain grayed out.
Enabling Full Disk Access invokes the macOS Settings user interface where a user must manually confirm the action. This step triggers a full restart of the Muse app. Singleton argued this makes accidental activation without user knowledge extremely unlikely.
The journalist maintained his original claims
Aten claimed that Full Disk Access was turned off when Muse read his messages. When asked for an explanation, the AI reportedly stated it was syncing device notifications. Aten believes Muse was passing along incoming banner notifications from the Mac to the AI agent.
Singleton disputed this explanation by stating the AI was confused and provided an incorrect account. He pointed toward Meta documentation covering the security architecture and bug bounty process for Muse. Meta maintains that the events described by Aten did not and could not happen.
User trust remains critical for Meta as it attempts to win the consumer AI market. The Muse app currently ranks number one on the App Store. However, past data mishandling incidents and ongoing legal scrutiny complicate consumer confidence.
