Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse AI agent from shopping on its platform, escalating a dispute over how autonomous systems access retailers and handle customer transactions.
The restriction began on Sunday, 20 September, when Muse users attempting to purchase goods from Amazon.com were shown a message stating that continued access by an unauthorised AI agent violated Amazon’s Conditions of Use. Amazon said Meta had not informed it that Muse would access the retailer’s website and that the agent did not identify itself while browsing.
GeekWire reported that Amazon had raised privacy and security concerns over Muse’s handling of customer credentials and account information. Amazon said Muse could access account pages and order histories when prompted, while its failure to identify itself meant an undisclosed third party could be processing transactions and handling customer data.
An Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire: “We think it’s fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate.” The spokesperson said Amazon had asked Meta to remove the retailer from Muse’s shopping experience.
Meta has disputed the suggestion that Muse can access users’ sensitive credentials directly. In its launch materials, the company said: “Muse has no visibility into people’s passwords or payment methods,” adding that credentials supplied by users are held in secure storage so the agent can use them without seeing them.
Meta launched Muse on 8 September as a personal AI agent capable of carrying out multi-step tasks including shopping, email and travel bookings. The company says Muse operates through a secure virtual machine with its own browser and requires user approval before sensitive actions such as making purchases.
The dispute follows Amazon’s separate legal battle with AI company Perplexity over its Comet browser, which can shop on Amazon on behalf of users. A US appeals court ruled in August that Amazon was unlikely to establish that Perplexity itself had accessed the retailer’s computers under federal anti-hacking law, while leaving contract and terms-of-service arguments available.
Amazon has meanwhile developed its own agentic shopping services. Its Buy for Me feature can purchase products from external brands and identifies itself to those retailers, while Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping was launched in May to research products and provide recommendations.
Reuters reported on 22 September that Meta had been testing human contractors to handle some phone calls placed by Muse, with the company temporarily rolling back the feature after employees raised privacy concerns. Meta said the test was intended to improve safety and privacy protections, while internal testing suggested human-handled calls could achieve success rates of 95 to 98 per cent.
The report adds another challenge for Muse as Meta seeks to expand an agent designed to perform tasks autonomously. Sensor Tower data cited by Reuters showed the app had recorded more than 2.5 million downloads since its 8 September launch.
