Amazon has prevented Meta’s launched Muse personal AI agent from purchasing on Amazon.com for customers. This action follows Amazon’s attempt to persuade Meta to voluntarily remove the e-commerce platform from the experience, an effort that was entirely unsuccessful.
The issue, according to Amazon, is that Meta did not obtain permission to access its store, and the Muse agent does not identify itself when browsing. Additionally, Amazon claims that Muse captures and stores customer credentials, which could create privacy and security risks.
As of Sunday night, users trying to use Muse to shop on Amazon were seeing a popup message stating that “Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon’s Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed.”
An Amazon spokesperson stated that third-party applications offering to make purchases on behalf of customers should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about participation.
Business Partners and Agentic Shopping
Despite the current standoff, Amazon and Meta have a significant business partnership. Amazon products have been available for purchase on Facebook and Instagram since 2023, and Meta signed a multibillion-dollar deal in April to run agentic AI workloads on Amazon’s cloud.
The dispute is part of a larger debate over who controls the online shopping experience and customer relationship when AI agents buy items on behalf of consumers. Amazon has been trying to keep outside agents off its site, having sued Perplexity over its Comet browser and moved to block shopping agents from Google and OpenAI.
Amazon is in direct conversation with Meta about the issue, but declined to comment on whether it would consider taking legal action.
Read Also: Washington Secretary of State Promotes Voting at PAX
Security Implications and Business Stakes
Muse can reach account pages and order history if a customer prompts it to do so, Amazon says. Because the agent doesn’t identify itself, the company says, that amounts to an undisclosed third party moving through customer accounts, processing transactions and handling sensitive data without Amazon’s knowledge or consent.
Amazon’s business stakes are high, with the company generating over $68 billion in ad revenue last year, which depends on people browsing its pages and seeing sponsored products. This revenue is a significant portion of Amazon’s overall income.
Legal Maneuvering and How Muse Works
Amazon won a preliminary injunction against Perplexity in March, but lost it on August 4, when the Ninth Circuit ruled that the user, not the AI company, was accessing Amazon’s computers under federal anti-hacking law.
The court denied Amazon’s petition for rehearing on Sept. 10. However, the ruling left one avenue open for Amazon: claims built on contracts and terms of service. The message Muse users are seeing cites Amazon’s Conditions of Use, rather than accusing anyone of hacking. This distinction is important in the context of the lawsuit.
Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal agent that carries out multi-step tasks, connecting to services including email, calendar, payments, dining, and shopping. The agent runs on a secure virtual machine, with its own browser, and checks with the user before sensitive actions like sending an email or making a purchase.
Meta launched Muse on September 8. Early users have described it performing tasks such as switching an auto insurance policy and loading an online grocery cart.
