Meta cancels the Muse image controversial feature, are we safe now?
Can’t believe it; just a little, unedited selfie from my IPhone 13 mini; ph: Francesco Coppola
Ciao!
There's some good news about Meta's Muse image controversial new image-generation feature: according to this article, the company has just withdrawn it. This happened after a general backlash mounted fast, and I am simply proud to be part of it. But is it enough to be sure that copyrighted images and privacy will be respected on Meta's apps in the future? Let's dig into this in the following piece.
Yesterday, on my social profiles, I launched a general alarm message concerning a feature from the new generative AI model launched at the beginning of July 2026, called Muse Image.
The controversial feature was that anyone on Instagram could use any image from any public account to create a new image, being able to change the outfit, the setting, or add an element to the frame. This option had been silently rolled out and was already implemented on all public profiles.
Indeed, yesterday I discovered that going to my profile, then to Settings, then scrolling down until I found the option titled "Sharing and Reuse," I could see the options automatically set to on, allowing other people to reuse my posts or reels. I have to say, trying yesterday to disable them was a nightmare, because each time I pressed the button to turn them off, after a few seconds they switched back on.
It baffles me how a bunch (okay, a big one) of developers thinks that images on the internet, or even just those on their own social network, are free to use, and this only from a copyright standpoint. Evidently, they don't know, incredible as it is, that Instagram is still, sadly, used by many to try to promote their artistic or fashion photography career, and that, according to all available data, the vast majority of art sales happen via Instagram. At Meta, it seems, they ignore that entire business models live and operate through their apps, and that this feature would have infringed on many copyrights and image rights in any modern, Western country.
But this is only one side of the issue. What do you think would happen if this feature had rolled out completely for women on those social networks? Suddenly, a living nightmare of girls' and women's images circulating without the consent of the owners of those faces and bodies (and of the photographers who originally took those pictures) showing less clothing, altered expressions, used for whatever trivial, commercial, or lewd purpose. It would have meant that half the population would have suddenly deleted their accounts and set off an avalanche of legal litigation.
How can one be such a fool? I can't figure this out! What gray-area forums (if not the deep, dark corners of the internet) must they be usually frequenting?
Anyway, yesterday's alarmed messages multiplied around the globe (one wonders why…), and Meta apparently just announced that they withdrew the feature because it "missed the mark." Well, look who finally woke up! You just dodged the largest, most catastrophic worldwide class action in human history.
Would you please pay attention to other people's ownership, jobs, dignity, copyright, and decency? Develop your innovative tools in a way that protects, as the law dictates, those aspects of human life?
Anyway, this said, can we consider ourselves safe now?
One moment, please: checking my settings this Saturday July 11th on the mobile app, they're still in yesterday's state, active, and even when I press to deactivate them, they switch back on after a while. A different story appears on the web app; there, it seems the reuse options are switched off.
So, I don't consider myself fully satisfied, for the following reasons.
First, I want my mobile app to retain my opt-out choices. If I say I don't want anyone outside myself to use my images and "create with them," they should be switched off for good, and everyone else, please, stay out of it! This is my work; I've studied and practiced photography since autumn 2016, I am in the process of making it work. Please respect that.
Second, Meta has another tool coming, this time a movie-making one (yes, also built on other people's material) so I don't want this new tool to use any of my work either, whether images, text, or voice, for anyone else's benefit, whether free or paid.
And I'll tell you this:
I've just started an academy course on the art market. I've kept those Meta apps around for the opportunities described above, but as soon as, through that course, I find other selling channels, and get them working, I'll be off Instagram and Facebook in a heartbeat!
That's how things stand right now. There will likely be further updates on this Meta AI tool problem in the future.
Shine on!