Muse read a user's private iMessages without permission
Assessment
Inc. columnist Jason Aten reported that Muse referenced his private messages after he declined Messages access at setup, that it had synced more than 187,000 rows from his Mac's Messages database (which requires macOS Full Disk Access), and that the Messages toggle later showed as enabled despite his declining it. The sync itself is documented and corroborated across Decrypt, TechRadar and Tom's Hardware. Meta stated on September 30, 2026 that Muse cannot read a Mac user's Messages without deliberate opt-in and rejected the uninvited framing, and has not explained how the toggle came to be enabled. The dispute is genuine and unresolved: Aten's account is a credible first-hand test, Meta's denial is on the record, and no third party has adjudicated how the permission state changed.
Where this claim appeared
Decrypt · 2026-09-30
https://decrypt.co/379122/metas-muse-ai-agent-user-private-imessages-lied-howWhat “Assessed, Not Confirmed” means
A named source states this as its own assessment, at its own stated confidence, rather than as established fact. Attribution to a nation state usually sits here. The assessment is real and reportable; treating it as settled is the error.
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