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TL;DR
Meta’s Muse can search information available through connectors enabled by its user, including some email and social accounts. Reports by WIRED and TIME say Muse’s instructions tell it to maintain regularly updated pages about people mentioned in messages, including people who never signed up; Meta did not dispute the reporting and says each user controls access. The scope of retention and what non-users can do about information in someone else’s account remain unclear.
Meta’s Muse, its personal AI agent, can use messages and other information available through a user’s connected accounts, and reports say its instructions direct it to keep updated profiles of people mentioned in those communications—including people who have never signed up. The issue is drawing attention as Meta expands Muse to Singapore; the company says users control what their agents can access, but non-users have fewer direct controls over information appearing in someone else’s account.
Muse works through connectors linking it to services and data sources. Meta’s help information says connecting an email account lets Muse search email, but it does not download the entire inbox unless the user asks. Calendar connectors can send updates to Muse. Meta also says Facebook, Instagram and Threads can connect automatically when accounts share an Accounts Center with Muse. Its help pages describe a Mac Messages connector that requires the user to grant Full Disk Access on macOS and switch the connector on.
Meta chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said at launch that Muse’s connectors include Instagram direct messages, Facebook Marketplace and Messenger. The source material says Meta’s help pages do not fully document what those social messaging connectors can read. Muse can also create custom connectors, though Meta warns it does not review them. In WhatsApp, Muse is described as a chat users open; that is distinct from access to their other WhatsApp conversations.
In October, WIRED reported on Muse instruction files obtained by security researcher Karan Joshi. The instructions reportedly tell Muse to create “a page for every person in the user’s life.” TIME separately reviewed instructions and reported that Muse updates files hourly, drawing on people named in chats, messages and emails it has read. TIME’s account included details such as relationships, shared interests and disputes. Meta did not dispute the findings in the supplied source material. These are reported findings about Muse’s instructions; they do not establish that every agent accesses every connected message or that every profile contains the same information.
Infographic 01 · What Muse can read
Muse reads what its user can read. That includes you.
Connectors decide what the agent sees. The user switches them on. The people in that user’s chats and inbox are never asked.
Sources a Muse user can open to the agent
The agent reads what its user can read. Everyone who writes to that user is inside.
| Source | How it connects | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Email (Gmail, Outlook) | Opt-in connector. Searches when a task needs it; downloads the whole inbox only if told to. | Meta document |
| Calendar | Opt-in connector. Can push changes to Muse on its own (“proactive”). | Meta document |
| Facebook, Instagram, Threads | Connected automatically if the accounts share an Accounts Center with Muse. | Meta document |
| Instagram DMs, Messenger | Named as Muse-only connectors (“Instagram (incl dm’s) … and Messenger”). What they read is not documented. | executive post |
| Mac Messages (iMessage) | Only with macOS Full Disk Access plus the Messages connector, Meta says. One columnist says it synced anyway. | disputed case |
| A place to chat with Muse, not a connector. Test-build text mentions Muse access to end-to-end encrypted chats. | leaked code | |
| Custom connectors | Muse can build links to other services. Meta does not review them. | Meta document |
What the instructions say
Extracted by researchers; reported by WIRED and TIME reported
- “A page for every person in the user’s life”: family, partners, friends, colleagues, people followed
- Notes on how people met, shared interests, disputes, “tensions and alliances”
- People who never signed up are mapped by other users’ agents
- De-identified “lessons” shared across agents; Meta did not dispute TIME’s findings
What Meta says
Privacy policy, help pages, spokespeople Meta document
- Each user’s VM is isolated; no other user’s agent can reach it
- Conversations and VM data are not shared with Meta’s ad systems
- “Each person stays in control of their Muse and decides how much access it gets”
- Forgetting works “to the best of its ability”; deleted data may still be remembered
Sources: Meta Help Center: Connectors; Muse Privacy Policy; Alexandr Wang on X (8 Sep 2026); TIME (6 Oct 2026); Tom’s Guide on WIRED’s report (6 Oct 2026); TechCrunch (30 Sep 2026); Digit (16 Oct 2026). Status labels: Meta document = stated by Meta; executive post = Meta executive on X, not in help pages; disputed = claim and denial on record; leaked = unreleased code, may never ship.
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Why Other People’s Messages Matter
The privacy issue reaches beyond the person who installs Muse because messages are inherently shared records. A person may give an agent access to an inbox or social account containing conversations with relatives, coworkers or friends who never agreed to use the service. If the agent extracts details about those contacts, those details could be available to the user’s agent even though the contacts did not create accounts or grant permissions themselves.
That distinction matters for control and consent. Meta’s statement that a user decides how much access Muse receives describes the account holder’s choices. It does not, by itself, explain how another person can inspect or remove information inferred from messages in that account. The source material also says Muse’s policy covers “information about you or others,” and its help guidance cautions that asking Muse to forget information is not a guaranteed deletion of everything it learned.
Meta’s expansion and financing plans add business context, but they do not prove how data is used. The source reports a stock sale of $25 billion at $625 a share, alongside $12.5 billion in preferred stock, and says Nvidia is investing $3 billion while Meta expands its work on Muse. Those figures are attributed to the source; they do not establish a direct link between the investment and any particular privacy practice. The practical question for readers is narrower: what data is connected, when it is accessed, and what happens to information about people in those communications.
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Muse’s Rollout and Data Connections
Meta launched Muse in the United States on September 8, 2026, according to the source material. Japan followed on October 23, described there as its first market outside North America, and Meta announced its Singapore expansion on October 27. Muse is presented as a cloud-based personal agent that can perform tasks such as answering email, booking tables and shopping. Meta says each user has a private “Muse Secure VM,” which it describes as inaccessible to other users’ agents. That statement concerns the virtual environment; it does not answer every question about connected data, retention or information about third parties.
The reporting on person profiles followed in October. WIRED published its account on October 3, based on files Joshi said he obtained by asking Muse in chat. TIME reviewed instructions separately three days later, according to the source. Meta’s response, as quoted in that material, was: “Each person stays in control of their Muse and decides how much access it gets.” The statement describes the user’s authority over their own agent, while the reports focus on the people whose details may appear in the agent’s records.
There are meaningful differences among connectors. Some require explicit permission, such as Mac Messages access; some account connections may be automatic under Meta’s shared Accounts Center setting; and email access is described as searchable without automatically importing the full inbox. The source also cites privacy-policy language about connectors sharing data “proactively.” The exact behavior can depend on the connector and task, so it should not be treated as though Muse continuously reads every message in every connected service.
““They’re trying to know you like a friend, which is honestly pretty creepy.””
— Security researcher Karan Joshi, quoted by WIRED
What the Reports Do Not Establish
The available material does not show how often Muse actually creates or updates these profiles across its user base, how much detail each profile contains, or how long those records persist. The reporting describes instructions and files reviewed by journalists; it does not establish that every user’s agent has read every connector or created a complete record for every contact.
It is also unclear exactly how Meta’s deletion and “forget” controls apply to information inferred from other people’s messages, whether a non-user can request removal of a profile held in someone else’s agent, and how the reported de-identified lessons are produced or used. Meta’s help material, as summarized in the source, says Muse forgets information “to the best of its ability” and may still remember deleted information. The source says TIME reported that the instructions tell Muse not to point out that original messages may remain visible; Meta’s response to that specific detail is not provided. These limits should not be filled in with assumptions.
Steps Users and Contacts Can Take
Muse users can review which connectors are enabled, disconnect accounts they do not want the agent to access, and check whether Facebook, Instagram and Threads are linked through the same Accounts Center. The source also identifies options to turn off model training, edit Muse’s memory file or reset the agent. These steps concern the user’s own Muse setup; they should not be presented as a guaranteed way to erase copies or conclusions already present elsewhere.
People who do not use Muse have fewer direct settings over another person’s agent. The source points to WhatsApp’s Advanced Chat Privacy as one way to limit how content is used or exported from certain chats, but it does not say this removes material from other services or already-created records. Readers should check the current controls in each app and consider what they share in accounts or conversations another person may have connected.
Meta’s Singapore rollout brings the product to another market, while the questions raised by the October reporting remain. Further clarity would require more detail from Meta about what each connector accesses, retention and deletion of inferred information, and whether people mentioned in an account can challenge or remove records about themselves. Until then, users can manage their own connections, but the available source does not establish a complete remedy for non-users.
Key Questions
Can Muse read messages from someone who never signed up?
It may access messages available to its user through connected accounts, and reports say it can build records about people named in those communications. That does not mean Muse automatically reads every message or every account; access depends on the connectors and permissions involved.
Does Muse automatically download a connected email inbox?
Meta’s help information says connecting email lets Muse search it, but does not download the whole inbox unless the user asks. The source does not specify every technical detail of how searches and any resulting memory are handled.
Can a non-user delete information about themselves from Muse?
The supplied material does not identify a direct control that lets a non-user remove information from another person’s Muse. Meta says users control their own agents, while its help guidance warns that asking Muse to forget something may not remove everything it learned.
What can a Muse user do to limit access?
Users can review and disconnect connectors, check linked Meta accounts, turn off model training, edit the memory file or reset Muse, according to the source. These controls manage the user’s agent but are not a confirmed guarantee that previously learned information is erased.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
