Wait, Did Zuckerberg Just Jack Muse the Band’s Instagram Handle For His New AI?

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has taken over the @muse handle on Instagram and X from the English rock band Muse, which now uses @museband and @musetheband, respectively, following Meta's announcement of its new personal AI agent also named Muse. The band's nearly three million Instagram followers noticed the change, sparking fan outrage and speculation about whether the handover was consensual or compensated, though neither Meta nor the band has commented.

Muse, the popular English rock band that’s been selling out arenas for decades, is no longer @muse on Instagram, where it boasts nearly three million followers. That’s because on Tuesday, Meta, which owns Instagram, announced https://www.wired.com/story/meta-releases-muse-a-personal-ai-agent-with-privacy-built-into-it/ a new “personal AI agent” also called Muse — which is now taking the rock band’s original handle, in an act of what appears to be corporate eminent domain for a long-established username. Indeed, an archived version https://web.archive.org/web/20260601130219/https://www.muse.mu/ of the band’s website shows that just last month, it held the @muse handle on Instagram. Now it’s going by @museband, because Mark Zuckerberg apparently couldn’t settle for his new tool being stuck with the handle @museAI. A similar swap happened on X. Meta’s newfangled AI got the @muse handle, while Muse had to settle for even clunkier @musetheband. The changes were immediately noticed by the band’s fans, who largely didn’t sound impressed by Meta’s naming scheme. One viral Reddit post claimed https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/1wbj7xa/popular 2000s rock band muse forced to change/ Muse were “forced” to change its social media handles, fomenting further outrage. “That’s genuinely the worst,” fumed https://www.reddit.com/r/Muse/comments/1waxome/comment/p8lta6x/ one bewildered fan. “Mark Zuckerberg is such a loser,” another said. Others, in classic music fan fashion, accused https://x.com/bradwest96/status/2097544934249181464 the English rockers of being “sellouts,” seemingly under the impression that Muse took a Big Tech payday in exchange for giving up its social media handles. It’s not clear what happened to facilitate the username swap. Given that this happened on both Instagram and X, it seems possible that Meta came to some sort of agreement with Muse to take its handle, which the band has been sitting on for over a decade now. Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the handover was consensual, and whether the band was paid for the handle. The actual band hasn’t commented on the situation either, adding to the confusion. Of course, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a social media site to jack someone’s username without compensation or recourse. When Elon Musk rebranded Twitter into X in 2023, he took the username https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musks-takes-x-handle-longtime-twitter-user-rcna96074 @X from someone who had been holding onto it since 2007. The only thing the company offered in return was some merch and a chance to visit X’s headquarters.