Amazon has blocked Meta’s new AI assistant Muse from shopping on its website on behalf of customers.
Shoppers attempting to use Muse on Amazon began encountering a message on Sunday stating that continued access by an “unauthorised AI agent” breached the company’s conditions of use.
Amazon said Meta had not told it that Muse would access its store and claimed the AI assistant did not identify itself while browsing the site.
It also raised privacy and security concerns around the handling of customer login credentials.
Meta has disputed those concerns, maintaining that Muse cannot see customers’ passwords or payment information and that credentials shared with the service are kept in secure storage.
Amazon had reportedly asked Meta to remove its website from Muse before taking action to block the agent after the Facebook and Instagram owner declined.
The development comes less than two weeks after Meta unveiled Muse on 8 September.
Meta describes the product as a ‘personal AI agent capable of carrying out tasks for users rather than simply answering questions’, including making purchases, booking appointments and handling other online activities.
Amazon has itself been investing heavily in agentic shopping.
Its own AI shopping assistant, formerly Rufus and now part of Alexa for Shopping, can research products, track prices and automatically make purchases when prices hit levels set by shoppers.
Amazon also operates Buy for Me, which can purchase products from external brand websites on a shopper’s behalf when they are not available directly from Amazon.
Amazon said earlier this year that the number of products available through Buy for Me had grown from around 65,000 at launch to more than 500,000.
The company has previously clashed with other AI companies over third-party agents accessing its store.
It sued Perplexity last November over the AI firm’s Comet shopping agent, accusing it of accessing customer accounts without authorisation and disguising automated activity as human browsing. Perplexity rejected the allegations and argued consumers should be free to choose which AI services shop on their behalf.
A US federal judge subsequently issued a temporary order in March blocking Perplexity’s agent from using Amazon while the legal dispute continued.
Amazon’s approach contrasts with Shopify, which is actively integrating Meta into its growing agentic commerce ecosystem.
Meta was added as an AI sales channel for Shopify merchants earlier this month, allowing eligible retailers to make products discoverable through Meta and enable customers in the US to complete purchases directly on Meta’s platforms.
Shopify merchants can choose whether to allow direct checkout through Meta, while remaining responsible for fulfilling orders, returns and customer service.
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