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Instagrammers have long used all sorts of filters and tricks to give their pics a glow-up, so it may not have been a surprise that parent company Meta offered new generative AI effects to take content to a different level.
But after criticism, Meta has pulled back on a key feature of the new tool.
Days after launching it, the company has disabled a feature that allowed AI users to tag an Instagram account and have its new system generate images featuring pictures from that account.
Instagram users would have to manually opt out, if they were even aware of the feature, to prevent others from generating photos with their content.
In a statement emailed to CBC News just after 7 pm ET on Friday, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available.”
Meta initially launched Muse Image on Tuesday, saying it adds more than 30 new effects for Instagram stories, as well as on the messaging platform WhatsApp. It will later be available for Facebook and Messenger.
“These effects transform your photos with a single tap,” reads a post on Instagram’s blog, touting that it’s the “first AI image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Lab” and that Muse Video is in the works.
But it wasn’t making headlines for innovation.
Muse Image is only available for use in Instagram Stories and on WhatsApp in the U.S. at this time, though Canadians could use some new features on the Meta AI website directly.
However, the initial announcement revealed, to the dismay of some, that Meta AI permissions are automatically turned on for users with public accounts in other countries — including Canada — and must be switched off manually.
At the time of last publication, Meta had not responded to whether the controversial Instagram tagging feature would return in the future. After it was first announced, both users and privacy experts were quick to raise red flags and share guides on how to opt out.
“People don’t like their images being used in a way that they haven’t given permission for,” Katrina German, founder and CEO of Ethical Digital, told CBC News.
And while some people may just use the feature for fun, she fears there will be many others who will abuse it.
Here’s what you need to know about Muse Image and how to change your Instagram settings.
How do I turn it off?
Let’s just cut to the chase. This is why you clicked on the article, and at the time of last publication, Meta had not indicated whether it would automatically opt users into future AI features.
The permissions for Muse Image and Meta AI to use your photos to generate images are turned on automatically — again, even if you’re not using the tool yourself.
This is separate from turning off Meta AI’s search assistant and chat bot in Instagram.
Turning it off can only be done on mobile devices for now. Go into “Settings and activity” and scroll down to the “Sharing and reuse” section.
There, you’ll find the Meta AI permissions.
The first one is: “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta.” It applies to both posts — including your profile photo — and Reels. You must toggle each one off if you want to deny permission.
The following permission is: “Allow people to create with and reuse your original audio on Meta AI.”
You can also simply make your account private, if you haven’t already.
Meta says that Instagram accounts are default set to private for users under 18 and that parents or guardians must grant permission for children under 16 to change their accounts to public.
How could my photos be used?
Meta calls Muse Image an “intelligent creative partner,” allowing users to apply preset AI-generated effects based on the prompts, whether it’s restoring an old photo or dressing someone up in different outfits.
Meta says there’s also an option to create your own effects using prompts.
You can do this with anyone’s photos, simply by mentioning someone’s account with the @ symbol and their username.
The Liberal government tabled a bill to restrict young Canadians’ access to social media unless companies can demonstrate their platforms are safe. The Safe Social Media Act also aims to limit youth access to AI chatbots.
Meta suggest this is for “fun” ideas like “personalized birthday cards, group trip memes or playful edits between friends.”
The AI-generated creations can then be shared on Instagram stories.
Even though Muse Image is not yet available to Instagram users in Canada, Meta did offer the option to test the tool on the Meta AI website by uploading photos or mentioning public Instagram accounts.
So, why should I be concerned?
Katrina German says tools like this open the gate for anyone, anywhere to use an image of a stranger in “any form that they want it to be” — something she believes is of particular concern to public figures and parents of young children.
But she also says it’s a “big game-changer” that people in online spaces are now required to manually opt out of it.
“Before, we were creating content for ourselves and for our audiences,” she said. “And now it makes almost everything that you’re creating, unless you opt out, public domain.”
She says Meta already collects troves of data from its users.
Meta has been training its AI models since 2024 with usernames and details, as well as text, images, audio and video from public posts from Instagram and Facebook — reportedly dating all the way back to 2007.
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Meta Canada said in a statement to CBC News early on Friday afternoon that there are guardrails; the statement was issued before the company deactivated the tagging feature.
“Muse Image includes robust technical protections designed to block the generation of policy-violating content,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email, adding that any offensive content is “subject to removal.”
“Anyone who encounters a generated image they find objectionable can report it by pressing and holding the image, selecting the ‘thumbs down’ option, and choosing a reason for reporting.”
Do other platforms have AI image tools?
Many AI image or video-generation tools are from companies like Google Gemini’s Nano Banana 2 and Anthropic’s Claude or incorporated into popular creative applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Canva.
ChatGPT owner OpenAI shut down its image generator Sora earlier this year, six months after its September launch, over concerns about deepfakes and nonconsensual imagery.
Among social media companies, the most notable is from Elon Musk-owned X and the integrated AI chatbot Grok. XAI has been widely criticized for allowing Grok users to manipulate photos of people, including putting them in sexualized poses — often without their consent.
Grok then published these images in replies to posts on X.
Canada’s privacy commissioner investigated Grok and its AI image generation tool and found that it “was launched without proper safeguards or sufficient consideration of potential privacy harms.”
A jury has found Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms in a lawsuit aimed at holding them responsible for harm done to children who use their services.
