Why Amazon is blocking Meta’s Muse shopping agent

Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse from making purchases on prospects’ behalf, saying the AI agent accesses its retailer with out permission and creates privateness and safety dangers. Customers had been seeing a warning citing Amazon’s Situations of Use by September 20, in response to GeekWire’s original report.

The quick dispute considerations entry to buyer accounts. There’s additionally a business motive for Amazon to withstand: an assistant that chooses merchandise for somebody can cut back the looking by which Amazon sells promoting. That incentive is obvious; it doesn’t set up that promoting induced this specific block.

Muse can full the acquisition

Meta launched Muse on September 8 as an assistant that carries out duties. It may possibly function a browser and fill in varieties, asking the consumer for approval earlier than making a purchase order. Meta says it runs on a devoted pc within the cloud.

Think about asking an assistant to discover a espresso machine below $150 and purchase your most well-liked choice. It might examine merchandise, current a advice and full checkout after you approve. The retailer nonetheless receives an order, however chances are you’ll by no means browse its search outcomes your self. That modifications each who handles the account and who will get to affect your selection.

Amazon objects to how Muse enters accounts

Amazon informed GeekWire that Meta had not notified it earlier than permitting Muse to buy there. It says the agent fails to determine itself and seems to seize and retailer buyer credentials. Amazon additionally says Muse can attain order histories and account pages when prompted.

Meta’s technical documentation offers a extra particular account of the password dealing with: credentials are saved individually from the AI agent and inserted into the browser when wanted. The mannequin itself can’t learn them, Meta says. Holding passwords away from the mannequin is a safeguard, although the system nonetheless makes use of them to enter accounts. It doesn’t resolve Amazon’s objection to that entry.

The authorized place additionally wants care. Amazon sued Perplexity over its Comet assistant in November 2025, however the Ninth Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction on August 4. On the information earlier than it, the court docket discovered Amazon unlikely to succeed below the computer-access legal guidelines at subject as a result of the consumer was accessing Amazon with an AI software. The court docket expressly preserved Amazon’s potential to manage entry by consumer phrases. That call involved Comet, not Muse.

Amazon’s Sponsored Merchandise adverts can seem inside buying outcomes and on product pages. Advertisers pay for clicks. Their worth depends upon reaching folks whereas they’re selecting what to purchase.

Within the coffee-machine instance, an assistant might choose a product earlier than the shopper reaches Amazon. A competing vendor’s paid placement would then have much less alternative to vary that call. The impact depends upon how the assistant finds and presents merchandise; utilizing an agent doesn’t robotically eradicate promoting.

Amazon’s reported quarterly promoting income provides as much as $68.6 billion for 2025. That features sponsored adverts, show and video promoting. It’s the measurement of the broader enterprise, not an estimate of income threatened by Muse. Neither the block nor that determine tells us how a lot promoting earnings buying brokers would possibly displace.

Amazon needs a say in who completes the order

Amazon already operates a comparable service. Its Buy for Me feature lets prospects ask Amazon to buy chosen merchandise from different manufacturers’ web sites. Amazon says manufacturers can select whether or not to take part. The client confirms the acquisition inside Amazon’s app, whereas the model handles achievement and returns.

That association retains Amazon concerned within the product choice even when one other retailer will get the sale. Muse might transfer that call into Meta’s assistant. Amazon’s objection to unapproved entry due to this fact aligns with its curiosity in maintaining management over how consumers attain merchandise.

For retailers and entrepreneurs, this separates two questions which are usually bundled collectively: whether or not an assistant recommends a product, and whether or not it might really purchase it. A model might seem in an AI advice whereas its most well-liked retailer blocks the agent at checkout. Evaluating that gross sales channel requires checking each steps.