Meta has publicly rejected claims that its AI assistant Muse accessed a user’s private messages without permission. The dispute arose after journalist Jason Aten reported that Muse read his Mac messages even though he had not enabled the necessary Full Disk Access setting. Meta’s Vice President of Communications, Andy Stone, clarified that for Muse to access Messages, users must explicitly opt-in by granting both Full Disk Access and enabling the Messages connector, making unauthorized access impossible under current system protections.

Meta’s technical team further explained that macOS enforces multiple layers of permissions to control access to user data. According to Meta Superintelligence Labs executive David Singleton, users must complete three distinct permission steps before Muse can read Messages, including approving Full Disk Access through the system settings, which requires a deliberate restart of the Muse app. Singleton also contested Aten’s suggestion that Muse obtained message content via device notifications, asserting that the assistant’s AI had confused the explanation.

The skepticism surrounding Meta’s denial is grounded in the company’s troubled history with data privacy and security, highlighted by multiple lawsuits, regulatory fines, and recent jury findings that it misled consumers about data practices during the Cambridge Analytica scandal. As Muse gains traction—currently ranking number one on the App Store in the U.S. and Canada—public trust in Meta’s handling of sensitive information will be critical to the AI's success in a competitive marketplace increasingly concerned with privacy.

This controversy is not isolated, with other users reporting problematic behavior from Muse in different scenarios, such as inadvertent sharing of private information on Facebook Marketplace. Meta investigated these incidents, attributing some to user-enabled permissions. While Meta stands by its security design and bug bounty processes, the ongoing scrutiny illustrates the challenge the company faces in balancing AI innovation with consumer confidence.