How to Turn Off Meta Muse on Instagram & WhatsApp

Turn off Muse Image using your Instagram content

Meta's Muse Image feature can draw on public Instagram photos to generate AI images — including yours, if your account is public. To stop this:

1. Open your Profile, tap the menu (three lines).
2. Go to Sharing and reuse.
3. Under "Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta," turn off the Posts and Reels toggles.

This wording may vary slightly by app version — Meta rolled this setting out in stages, starting in the US. Important limit: this only blocks future generation. It doesn't remove or recall any AI image already made using your content before you switched it off.

What changed after the backlash

Muse Image launched in July 2026 with a feature that let anyone @-mention a public account and have Muse generate images using that account's photos. It set off strong backlash, including criticism from Hollywood over unauthorized use of people's likenesses.

Meta pulled that specific feature shortly after, saying: "we've heard feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available."

What this means for you: the @-mention remix feature is gone. The broader Sharing and reuse setting above is still active and still worth checking, since Muse Image itself remains part of Meta AI.

Can you turn off Meta AI in WhatsApp?

Not completely, based on current reports. WhatsApp previously had a toggle for this, but it's since been removed. What you can still do:

• Settings → Chats, turn off the Meta AI button — this hides the entry point, but doesn't stop the underlying data use.
• Long-press the Meta AI chat and select Archive — removes it from your chat list, same limitation applies.

If you're in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Brazil, Japan, or South Korea, local privacy law gives you a formal right to object to this kind of data use — check your account's privacy settings for a region-specific option. Elsewhere, including the US, that formal opt-out currently doesn't exist.

If you've never used Muse, is your information still involved?

According to Meta's own Help Center, yes — in two limited ways. Someone using Muse might share content that mentions you (like your name from a shared calendar), or Muse might read public information from the internet that happens to include something about you. Meta says this kind of information isn't linked to a Meta account or stored in a way that identifies you personally.

If you think your personal information showed up in an AI response inappropriately, Meta provides country-specific report forms for this — check Meta's Help Center for the one that applies to you.

What is Muse, exactly? →

FreeMuseAI is an independent, third-party guide and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta. Facts on this page are checked against official sources where possible; unverified claims are marked accordingly.