Meta denies Muse read private messages without consent
What's the story
Meta has denied a claim that its AI assistant, Muse, accessed a user's private messages without their permission. The denial came after Inc. columnist Jason Aten reported the issue. Andy Stone, VP of Communications at Meta, emphasized that the company does not believe its product acted without user consent in this case.
Access clarification
Stone clarifies on X
Stone took to X to clarify the situation. He said, "The Messages integration in the Muse app for Mac is entirely opt-in."
He further explained that users must enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to read their messages content.
Without these steps being taken by the user, Muse cannot access their messages.
Trust issues
Meta's history of data mishandling raises concerns
Despite Stone's clarification, skepticism around Meta's honesty remains.
The company's history of poor data handling has resulted in lawsuits, FTC violations, and fines.
Just recently, a New Mexico jury found that Meta had deceived users about its data practices in a case stemming from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal.
Twitter Post
Stone's response
Let's set the record straight: the Messages integration in the Muse app for Mac is entirely opt-in. You have to enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to be able to read your Messages content. It can't read your Messages unless you do this. And it can be…
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 30, 2026
Market impact
Trust in Muse critical for Meta's AI success
The trustworthiness of Muse will play a key role in Meta's success in the consumer AI market.
Even though the app is currently doing well and is ranked No. 1 on the App Store, more reports like this one could hurt Meta's reputation.
Stone's statement was backed by David Singleton, an executive at Meta's Superintelligence Labs, who explained that granting Muse access to read messages on Mac involves "three separate steps of application-level permissions and built-in macOS system-level protections."
Access procedure
How to give Muse access to Messages app
Singleton detailed the steps to grant Muse access.
He said users have to explicitly choose to give Muse Full Disk Access, which then lets them decide what level of access Muse gets to the Messages app (None, Read only, or Read).
If Full Disk Access isn't enabled, these options are grayed out.
Also, when granting Full Disk Access, a dialog triggers the macOS Settings user interface where users have to manually confirm their intention.
User experience
Muse allegedly read messages with Full Disk Access off
Aten's report claimed that when Muse read his messages, Full Disk Access was off.
He also said that when he asked Muse to explain how this occurred, the AI said that it was syncing his "device notifications."
Singleton disputed this by saying the AI was confused and gave an incorrect explanation of what happened.