{"slug": "zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated", "title": "Zuckerberg's New AI Gets @Muse Instagram Handle, 2.7M-Follower Rock Band Relegated to @MuseBand", "summary": "Meta's new Muse AI agent, unveiled by Mark Zuckerberg on 8 September, now holds the @muse Instagram handle previously used by the British rock band Muse, which has been relegated to @museband. The band, active since 1994 with over 30 million album sales, had already switched handles by early June, but the exact reason remains unclear, sparking fan jokes about AI companies taking established names.", "body_md": "# Zuckerberg's New AI Gets @Muse Instagram Handle, 2.7M-Follower Rock Band Relegated to @MuseBand\n\n## Meta's Muse AI has claimed the @muse Instagram handle, previously used by the British rock band, sparking jokes and speculation about the tech giant's influence over social media branding\n\nMeta's new Muse AI has sparked an unexpected branding row after fans noticed the coveted @muse Instagram handle was no longer being used by the world-famous British rock band of the same name.\n\nThe group, which has millions of followers and has performed as Muse for more than three decades, now uses @museband on Instagram.\n\nThe change drew fresh attention after Mark Zuckerberg formally unveiled Meta's Muse personal AI agent on 8 September, prompting users to joke that one of Britain's biggest rock acts had been pushed aside for the tech giant's latest project.\n\n'Lmao, Zuck took the 'muse' handle on Instagram for his new AI thing,' one X user wrote, pointing out that the band had been left with 'museband'.\n\n## Fans See Irony in AI Taking the @Muse Handle\n\nThe situation quickly became fodder for jokes about the wider AI industry. 'Wouldn't be like an A.I. company to take something and repurpose it as their own,' one user quipped.\n\nAnother wrote: 'Great knowing that your branding means nothing to social media companies who can and will just steal your name online for pet projects.'\n\nHowever, no public evidence shows that Meta forcibly removed the username from the band. Muse fans were already discussing the switch to @museband in early June, around three months before Meta publicly launched its AI product. Some speculated at the time that another company had claimed the handle, though no confirmed explanation was given.\n\nThat means the sequence is clear: the band had stopped using @muse before Meta's September launch, but exactly how the handle changed hands remains unknown.\n\n## Zuckerberg Launches Muse AI\n\n[Meta describes Muse as a personal AI agent](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/meta-unveils-muse-ai-agent-1818623) designed to take action rather than simply answer questions.\n\nAccording to the company, [users can ask Muse to send emails, book trips, fill out forms, organise schedules and even make purchases](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/metas-muse-ai-can-read-emails-make-payments-heres-how-much-access-it-really-has-1818652). It can continue working after the app is closed and return when it needs approval or has completed a task.\n\nMuse runs inside what Meta calls Muse Secure VM, a dedicated virtual computer intended to keep each user's data isolated.\n\nMeta says users control which services the agent can access and can require approval before sensitive actions. Zuckerberg described it as a personal agent that understands users' goals and works continuously to get things done.\n\n## Rock Band Has Used Muse Name Since 1994\n\nThe naming clash is particularly striking because Muse have existed since 1994. Formed in Teignmouth, Devon, the trio of Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard became one of Britain's biggest rock bands through albums including *Origin of Symmetry*, *Absolution* and *Black Holes and Revelations*.\n\nTheir tenth studio album, The WOW! Signal, was released in June 2026, continuing a career that includes two Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, and more than 30 million album sales worldwide.\n\nFor now, the band remains @museband on Instagram, while Meta's newest AI product has ended up with the coveted @muse handle. Whatever happened behind the scenes, fans have already decided there is something fittingly ironic about an AI company ending up with an Instagram handle a famous rock band had used for years.\n\n© Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated", "canonical_source": "https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/meta-muse-ai-branding-clash-rock-band-1818743", "published_at": "2026-09-09 12:37:54+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-09 13:13:14.830417+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Meta", "Muse", "Mark Zuckerberg", "Instagram"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/zuckerberg-s-new-ai-gets-muse-instagram-handle-2-7m-follower-rock-band-relegated.jsonld"}}