Meta this week launched its new AI image generation model, Muse Image, integrated directly into the Instagram app. While the feature promises to turn ideas into high-quality visuals with just a few taps, it comes with a significant privacy risk. By default, anyone can use your public profile photo and posts as prompts to generate AI images without your consent. This issue, highlighted by Wired, affects all users with public accounts.
Muse Image turns Instagram into a social deepfake factory
Muse Image acts as a creative partner that knows your world, making it easy to transform ideas into downloadable, shareable visuals for your feed, stories, or chats. The feature unlocks over 30 new AI-powered effects for Instagram Stories and enables image generation in direct chats with Meta AI on WhatsApp. However, Meta defaulted the setting to allow others to use your public content as input for their creations. If your profile is public, anyone can tag your account in a prompt to generate an image using your likeness.
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Two hidden toggles to block unauthorized use of your image
Thankfully, you can disable this setting, but the controls are well hidden. Open the Instagram app, tap your profile photo in the bottom-right corner, then the hamburger menu icon in the top-right. Scroll down to "Sharing and Reuse." Under the section "Allow people to create with and reuse your content," you'll find two separate toggles: one for Posts and one for Reels. To protect your privacy, switch both off. This simple action prevents others from using your image as a base for AI generation.
Meta chooses opt-out over opt-in, drawing privacy criticism
Meta's decision to enable this feature by default has drawn sharp criticism from privacy advocates. While other companies like Apple are exploring on-device AI models that never expose personal data, Meta seems to move in the opposite direction. A misconfiguration similar to the one that recently exposed 367,000 records from Nextcloud shows how easily personal data can leak when defaults ignore privacy. Even in the case of ChatGPT, the rollout of GPT-Live duplex voice required careful data protection, but Meta took a different path. The privacy community urges users to check their Instagram settings immediately.
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For more on data security, read our article on Nextcloud leaks 367K records and how a simple configuration error compromised privacy. Also, see how AI is evolving with privacy in mind in our piece on ChatGPT's GPT-Live duplex voice rollout.
Learn more about Meta's policies on Wikipedia's Meta Platforms page.
