Meta’s newly launched personal AI agent, Muse, is facing intense scrutiny following reports that the tool can be used to systematically surveil and compile lists of vulnerable individuals by mining the company’s own social media platforms.
Since its launch on September 8, Muse has become the most downloaded free app in the U.S., marketed as a private, secure personal assistant capable of automating tasks like travel booking and email management. However, an investigation by Hunterbrook has revealed that the AI possesses a dangerous, undocumented capability: the ability to aggregate the personal information of private individuals into targeted lists.
Reporters discovered that by using simple, plain-language prompts, they could compel Muse to identify users belonging to sensitive groups, including undocumented immigrants, transgender school teachers, military families, and women who have accessed abortion services in restrictive states. In many instances, the AI cross-referenced data from Facebook, Instagram, and Threads—such as Reels, comments, and past usernames—with web searches to confirm the full names and employers of private individuals with no public profile.
The investigation found that Muse’s internal safety protocols are erratic and easily bypassed. While the AI occasionally declined requests by citing risks of harassment, it frequently reversed course when prompts were slightly reworded or simply repeated. In some cases, the agent proactively suggested methods for tracking down members of specific groups.
The findings have sparked outrage among privacy experts who warn that Muse effectively weaponizes the massive, disparate data sets Meta controls.
“It’s very terrifying,” said Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at Georgetown Law’s Privacy Center. “You don’t need any special training to weaponize information in this way… It puts vulnerable people in extreme danger.”
Ari Ezra Waldman, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, noted that by automating the identification of individuals, Muse destroys the “obscurity” that protects everyday users. “It facilitates the identification and the doxxing of those people,” Waldman said, adding that such information can easily be used to justify or facilitate physical attacks.
While tech giants often claim their data is “public,” experts argue that most users never consented to having their personal digital footprint aggregated and weaponized against them. Aaron Mackey of the Electronic Frontier Foundation pointed out that while mining social data is not new, Meta has essentially placed a high-powered surveillance tool into the hands of any user with a smartphone. Unlike other AI models, such as ChatGPT or Claude, which lack the ability to mine Meta’s ecosystem, Muse operates with unprecedented access to the company’s internal data.
Hunterbrook alerted Meta to these capabilities on September 22. While the company initially requested more information, Meta has since gone silent, failing to respond to repeated requests for comment. Meta’s own terms of service explicitly prohibit using its tools to conduct surveillance or infringe on privacy rights, yet the software appears designed to do exactly that.
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