Amazon has blocked the Meta Muse AI agent from accessing its e-commerce platform to make purchases on behalf of users. Amazon stated that it never authorized this access and expressed concerns regarding user privacy and data security, as the agent does not identify itself during web browsing.
The conflict arose after unsuccessful negotiations where Amazon requested that Meta exclude its site from Muse. Since the previous Sunday, users attempting to shop on Amazon via Muse have received a warning that the unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's terms of service.
Meta claims that Muse operates within a secure virtual machine and does not store user passwords or payment information in plain text. The agent is designed to perform multi-step tasks, including shopping, by using user credentials to interact with services that lack public APIs.
This dispute highlights broader industry tensions over control of online shopping experiences. Amazon has previously taken action against other AI agents, including those from Perplexity, Google, and OpenAI, citing concerns over data scraping and the impact on its advertising revenue.
Despite the current friction, the companies maintain a business relationship. Meta signed a multi-billion dollar agreement in April to use Amazon Web Services for its AI workloads, and users have been able to purchase Amazon products directly through Facebook and Instagram since 2023.
