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[ARTICLE · art-54125] src=variety.com ↗ pub= topic=artificial-intelligence verified=true sentiment=↓ negative

Meta AI Can Now Use Your Instagram Photos Without Consent. SAG-AFTRA Urges App Users to Opt Out: ‘Take Action to Protect Your Likeness’

Meta's new Muse Image model allows anyone to use public Instagram photos in AI-generated images without consent, prompting SAG-AFTRA to urge users to opt out. The feature, which is enabled by default, requires users to manually disable it in settings to prevent their likeness from being used in AI creations.

read1 min views1 publishedJul 10, 2026
Meta AI Can Now Use Your Instagram Photos Without Consent. SAG-AFTRA Urges App Users to Opt Out: ‘Take Action to Protect Your Likeness’
Image: Variety (auto-discovered)

SAG-AFTRA is urging its members and all Instagram users to take action against Meta’s new Muse Image model, which has been woven into the Instagram app and makes public accounts susceptible to AI generations of their content. Per Wired: “All someone has to do is tag your account’s profile in a prompt— if it’s public — and they can use Meta AI to generate an image using your likeness.”

“Meta now lets anyone use your Instagram photos in AI images without your consent,” SAG-AFTRA wrote on social media, adding the organization ” recommends that members (and all Instagram users) opt-OUT of Meta’s new AI image generation tool, Muse Image. Take action to protect your likeness.”

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SAG-AFTRA then shared the following instructions: “If you want to avoid these AI generations of your Instagram posts without switching your account to private, you’ll have to dig into the app’s settings. Open the Instagram app, tap your profile, and then tap the three lines in the top-right corner of the screen. Then, scroll down to the Sharing and reuse tab. Here is where you should see a section labeled Allow people to use your content on Instagram and with AI features on Meta, with a toggle for Posts and one for Reels.”

Instagram users with public accounts who do not change their settings will be make it possible for their likeness to be used by Meta’s AI without their consent. The social media platform’s help center says that “people may be able to create content with your Instagram content using AI features at Meta” if you leave your public account on the new default settings.

“You will not be notified about content created using AI features at Meta,” the company’s help page adds (via Wired).

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