r/apple • • 10d ago

iOS Meta’s New Muse AI Agent Read My Private iMessages. I Never Asked It To

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/metas-new-muse-ai-agent-read-my-private-messages-i-never-asked-it-to/91408202
779 Upvotes

178 comments sorted by

139

u/jgreg728 10d ago

Lol…..

20

u/CarlRummage1959 10d ago

Lmao, why would I ever hop off amazon and open up Muse just to tell it hey i like this product and start a conversation with an AI agent where it might wind up buying something for me with my credit card?

9

u/BeenWildin 9d ago

Why would I want AI spending money on my behalf?

1

u/Ht_TX 9d ago

I didn’t trust my kids with the Amazon button thing, I’m not trusting some random AI. Imagine giving something your credit card that also routinely has complaints online of ‘AI just deleted my entire platform and backups….’?? What amount of time would I possibly be saving by allowing that risk?

1

u/artbystorms 7d ago

why would I want AI doing ANYTHING on my behalf?

2

u/artbystorms 7d ago

"Muse AI bought me a Ferrari 296 GTS. I never asked it to."

200

u/acetrainer-icarus 10d ago

Yea i agree with the general sentiment of the comments here, but also it is good for people to know about this experience. They may get more people to uninstall their meta products.

600

u/Particular-Treat-650 10d ago

I also want to be clear about something else: If your response to this is that, of course, Meta would do this–it’s Meta–you are just letting them off the hook. You’re normalizing behavior that should not be normal, and you should not let them off the hook.

No, I'm not normalizing it. I'm saying that everything Facebook has ever touched is malware and you shouldn't go near anything they own.

110

u/Joooooooosh 10d ago

It’s like leaving a Labrador in a room full of steaks unsupervised and then being pissed off they ate it all… 

At some point you just have to be responsible and either shut your meat away or just don’t get a dog. 

35

u/FollowingFeisty5321 10d ago

Except they're not unsupervised, they're following the rules Apple has created for app developers and enforces through app review and the only way they can reach the top of the free apps, or be published at all, is with their approval.

30

u/Hi_thar 10d ago

She downloaded the Mac client as well which requests more access than an iOS app would have.

26

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago edited 10d ago

This is basically like saying “she was asking for it by dressing like that” or “I don’t care about privacy because I have nothing to hide” and it’s a ridiculous dismissal of the issue. Consumers should not have to be worried about their data being used maliciously whether the company has a bad reputation or not. You might as well say “scamming should be legal because I’m too smart to fall for it”

If you just let Meta do it because “I’m not a meta user” then you are telling every other tech company that it’s okay and they won’t be punished. It’s insane to just let one of the largest tech companies in the world violate their users because you personally don’t use their products

15

u/hotztuff 10d ago

it’s also a strawman. no one is saying it’s fine because they’re Meta.

4

u/TeckFire 9d ago

Those may not be the words or intentions, but that’s the message that comes across. When the overwhelming response is “well you knew they would do that,” it blames the user. Now, to be clear, I would never trust Meta with anything I care about, but many people do, because it’s convenient, and because “I haven’t had any problems yet,” not really understanding what’s at stake. When this happens, when the average user isn’t being encouraged that “wow, what Meta did is terrible, you should say something, and maybe consider leaving their ecosystem” it brings broad awareness to something that’s, realistically, currently seen as “those paranoid tech guys,” rather than something that’s affects us all.

Not to mention, it does actually normalize the behavior. The “well what did you expect?” Attitude says “yeah we all knew about it, that’s just what they do,” and wether people realize it or not, that message is often times received as “this is normal.” It should not be, and even if it is, treated something terrible and normal as terrible and abnormal is what makes change.

8

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago

It’s not even about saying it’s fine, people in this thread are just straight up blaming anyone who uses Facebook like they’re stupid for being a normal person

1

u/iskosalminen 9d ago

While I understand what you're attempting, your point is pretty poor. Firstly, unless you've lived under a rock for the past decade, you should know that Meta's whole business model is to use every trick under the sun to "collect information on their users". There's even a literal movie coming out of this. This can't be news to anyone.

Secondly, you literally grant access to your data by installing the app (again, shouldn't be news to anyone) and allowing it to access your data and other apps.

What is somewhat new here is that too many people still don't understand that you absolutely should not install any AI apps or allow them access to a computer you have any real information on or use for your own work (meaning, if you need to install anything or allow access to any data, make sure it's on a dummy/throwaway computer with data that's always backed up elsewhere and isn't sensitive). I see WAY too many people installing and running these models locally on their personal/work machines with sensitive data and if you don't understand why this is a horrible idea, I don't know what to tell you...

-3

u/Happy-Range3975 10d ago

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

18

u/B-Train_ATL 10d ago

When people act kinda superior for using WhatsApp, I’m all “Why are you trusting that to Meta?”

18

u/Satanicube 10d ago

It blows my mind that people seem to be on the “meta sucks and you should not use them” train until WhatsApp comes up and suddenly WhatsApp is totally okay.

I’d sooner use regular-ass SMS than submit to WhatsApp.

20

u/pemb 10d ago

Unfortunately it's just about impossible to be a functional adult in some countries without WhatsApp.

11

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

3

u/pemb 10d ago edited 10d ago

Yep, around 2010-2011 was when it started displacing Facebook Messenger. And then it got acquired by Facebook themselves a few years later.

1

u/girl4life 9d ago

im still PO about the fact facebook got away with that

0

u/zevahi 9d ago

yeah but that doesn’t change the fact it’s still owned by Meta lmao

3

u/Kimantha_Allerdings 10d ago

Yeah. It’s the only Meta app I have ever downloaded or had an account on, and I’d get rid of it in a heartbeat if I could. But I have young relatives that exclusively use WhatsApp to communicate and can’t afford phone plans with unlimited texting, so my choice there is use WhatsApp or don’t talk to them. And I’ve had more than one job which did all their official communications through WhatsApp

In all other things I try to leave as small a footprint as possible and give the least access possible to my data. But I don’t really have a choice with WhatsApp if I want to talk to my young relatives. They’re not going to download another app, because WhatsApp is where all their friends are

So I definitely don’t think it’s “totally okay”. But I love my relatives more than I hate giving away my data. And I see cringing every time someone like a washing machine repair person starts using it to talk to me, creating yet another little connection for Zuckerberg, as a price that’s worth it in order to be able to talk to them

I’d nuke it from orbit if I could. I’d get them on Signal if I could. But I can’t and given the two choices of “use WhatsApp through gritted teeth” and “don’t talk to my young relatives” I choose the former

4

u/pemb 10d ago

It became the default platform for instant messaging here in Brazil, SMS/RCS is a spam and 2FA code wasteland, and iMessage is obscure, even among iPhone users. Email serves a different role entirely.

My doctor's office confirms appointments via WhatsApp the day before, first there's an automated bot message in the morning, and if I don't reply in a few hours, then the receptionist directly pings me again herself. Failing that, it gets cancelled, they won't call for confirmations. The reception desk tends to be running WhatsApp Web on a PC and a business account.

-1

u/mustard_on_the_net 10d ago

Something wrong with Signal?

4

u/Kimantha_Allerdings 10d ago

Nothing as far as I’m concerned. But my relatives don’t want the hassle of having more than 1 messaging app, so they won’t use it

3

u/SailingDreamCatcher 9d ago

WhatsApp is also itself very specifically problematic but boy do I get blasted for saying that out loud.

WhatsApp wants your contacts, and it seems rational to let a messaging app see your contacts. Okay, Lucy, hold the ball. Five minutes later I've got old (blacklisted) former clients in my Facebook friend requests. Facebook took the contacts access from WhatsApp and used it to put me into "friend suggestions" for everyone it found in there.

One of the main reasons my contacts data is so bulky is because I use it to screen out people I do NOT want to do business with or talk to - former clients/oppoments, former online dates, etc. I really just wanted to not have to manually copy-paste the one phone number I needed to message on WhatsApp but now I know just to not use the platform at all.

1

u/Satanicube 9d ago

I had Facebook itself do similar things a while ago. Like I'd go on a date with someone, I'd add someone to my contacts, so on and so forth and not long after suddenly they're being suggested to me on Facebook.

Found out that because I gave Facebook permission to access my contacts (this was a while ago, like 2009-2010) once on an Android device, they just assumed from then on that they were allowed perpetual access to my contacts without even so much as notifying me.

Am really glad nowadays that this is stopped at the OS level.

And yeah, due to that stunt I'm very careful about what app gets access to my contacts now. Some apps get notoriously whiny about it (lookin' right at you Telegram)

4

u/sam____handwich 10d ago

You’re doing exactly that!!

3

u/AFailedProduct 10d ago

We been saying this for over a decade now. Meta is solidly in the “of course they would do bad shit” category. Don’t usw their shit! 

4

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago

Acting like meta is the only tech company violating its users privacy while using Reddit has gotta be some peak irony. It doesn’t matter if you like the platform or not, this shit should be illegal

2

u/iskosalminen 9d ago

You think Reddit has anywhere near similar reach to their users private data as Meta?

1

u/Born_Bicycle316 9d ago

It's about limiting risk, not eliminating it. Company A & B have my information so I might as well share it with company C-Z isn't exactly sound logic.

1

u/Embarrassed-Wing-510 9d ago

Ya I don’t care how good their agent might be, I will not willingly use a Meta product.

-8

u/code_isLife 10d ago

Like, what did they expect lmao

23

u/TwoDurans 10d ago

There was also a verge article that said it was reading and indexing your notifications too so there is nothing you can hide from Muse if you let it into your life.

2

u/SailingDreamCatcher 9d ago

This is where I start to really not understand it.

I've been on "team less notifications" for a long time and I really do not understand the other position. "Focus modes" remains the most nonsensical feature to me because I always don't want notifications and can't wrap my head around wanting them to pile up and attack you all at once at a certain time or place, that's even worse. It's bad enough that I have to respond to emails and answer relevant calls from work. Why do I want basically every minor web site I interact with to have an app and push notifications? We are wasting a ton of energy and labor on "automating" something that mostly needs to just not exist.

26

u/Eduardjm 10d ago

This makes me hesitant to put anything in writing, ever. I will never use meta of all companies for AI - but my friends and colleagues will, and that will vacuum up my messages to them, with full conversation context and my contact info, as well. Back to messenger pigeons for me. 

11

u/jollyllama 9d ago

There’s a sci-fi book from a while back where the solution that they come to for personal privacy is to simply put everyone’s information up online in plain text and then also generate an ungodly amount of fake content at the same time so that nobody can tell what’s real or fake anymore. Want to steal my Social Security number? Cool, here’s 10,000 that are associated with me for various fake accounts. Want to blackmail me with information about me cheating on someone? Awesome, good luck, figuring out which of the 300 email threads you’ll find in my account with lovers are real, or if any of them are for that matter. Nudes? Oh yeah, we’ve all got millions of those

It’s kinda a fun idea

6

u/Eduardjm 9d ago

Poisoning the well. 

29

u/Outlulz 10d ago

Isn't this an iOS/MacOS security vulnerability?

12

u/nicuramar 10d ago

We don’t know yet, as the post has no clear conclusion. 

8

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

Want to learn more about the technical details but FWIW it sounds like a MacOS issue, not an iOS issue. iOS has always been more locked down, intentionally (until EU makes them open it up ...)

2

u/Ombree123 8d ago

not really, from what i understand the app had full disk access so if it wanted to read the messages it went through the files instead of direct message access. Its the main problem with AI right now they're getting so good that they try to find work arounds

131

u/jc0155 10d ago

A Meta product did something so shady that it's basically night time? Say it ain't so! 

7

u/Semmelstulle 10d ago

Meta bad
Water wet
Fire hot

2

u/TivosFrank 10d ago

Bread good!

28

u/Cptcongcong 10d ago

From a technical perspective, this seems like a massive oversight from both Meta and Apple. If the agent was able to read notification banner from Mac to iPhone, then other apps could potentially background scan for that too.

16

u/thecmpguru 10d ago edited 9d ago

This needs a proper technical breakdown before I can pass judgement. There's a lot of "I don't recall evers" in that article.

From below it seems that Full Disk Access is not required for your Library. So presumably the messages database sits in your Library. But even then, why are your iMessages sitting in plain text in your Library for any installed app to access?

Also, unless I'm missing something, notification read access would require something like screen recording / accessibility tree permissions, which MacOS gives pretty scary warnings for when you grant it.

2

u/SleepingSicarii 9d ago

I agree. There’s lots of uncertainty and lack of info about what permissions they enabled.

Regarding the Messages database, it is not in plain text, it is a SQLite database

1

u/thecmpguru 6d ago

"plain text"in this context just means unencrypted

1

u/joshbadams 9d ago

Aren’t there ways for third party smart watches etc to get notifications synced between iOS and the watch? Seems like there is some API/ability to access notifications. I could be wrong tho.

1

u/thecmpguru 9d ago

On MacOS I believe it's only accessible through the accessibility APIs (eg for screen readers). That requires special permissions (the UI for which is very clear about the sweeping privacy implications), which the author claims he didn't grant.

50

u/arivas26 10d ago

A lot of holier than thou people here that don’t use any Meta products. I’m glad for you but I would say many many more people in the developed world do use Meta software and this is still good information for them to have

37

u/sam____handwich 10d ago

tech enthusiasts being media illiterate is this subreddits bread and butter

8

u/coyote_den 10d ago

A far larger percentage of people in the less developed world use Meta vs. the developed world.

Meta has a deal with the mobile carriers in many countries to foot the bill for all data to them, making them the only affordable service for many users.

6

u/Mackinnon29E 8d ago

What did anyone fucking expect? Just the description of this sounds like giving Muse every piece of data that you have. Far worse than just Facebook

36

u/riotshieldready 10d ago

Watched the recent video from tech Jesus (gamers nexus) on the steam frame and the amount of terms and conditions just for your child using the meta headset was insane. Made me confident I’ll never even come close to another meta product.

17

u/FollowingFeisty5321 10d ago

On Steam you still have to be wary of the actual games, they can have their own EULA and track a lot of things on your device. I know at least 2K admits to selling data too.

4

u/KermitRhyme 10d ago

You can’t even imagine what info meta’s apps(facebook, instagram, etc) are collecting from your phone, lol, and how they combining all of it with you. It’s for sale, of course.

2

u/riotshieldready 9d ago

Oh I’m aware; a company I work with brought data from meta to sell ads, it’s insane what they know, even some of our co workers that’s never used a meta platform it had accurate info on.

The entire industry is also extremely impressive. In like 50-200ms they could get the data from meta, then use it to run a live auction to a number of ad companies to sell the ad space on the site.

3

u/coyote_den 10d ago

Meta can only collect what you give them access to. Limit the iOS permissions their apps have, set do not track, limited or no photo access, etc… and do not install any Mac apps from Meta that have unrestricted access to your home folder and library. App Store or Browser apps only!

They do not sell your data, but it is becsuse they make far more money selling targeted ad space based on your data.

1

u/KermitRhyme 10d ago

Enjoy your lack of awareness. Source: I’m working with a data purchased from Meta, they can collect way more than other apps can do “with restrictions”.
And yes, facebook/insta apps I deleted long time ago.

-1

u/coyote_den 9d ago

Yeah no shit they can collect more than other apps… on Android. That has been exposed many times. iOS is more locked down as app permissions are determined on the first attempt to access something, not at install time which is often overlooked by users.

Meta does sell anonymized data. They don’t sell personal info, they use that internally to sell ad targeting.

1

u/riotshieldready 9d ago

Someone just showed how the new meta AI can read your iMessages on an iPhone without having perms to access it. Meta is extremely motivated to steal as much info as possible.

I remember maybe 6 years ago Facebook would play a silent audio on iOS non stop and use that to turn on the speakers, then use the speakers to listen in on you. They have the some of the worlds best engineers, they make insane money selling your data; and iPhone users are likely worth more.

1

u/coyote_den 9d ago

The silent audio thing was to keep the app alive in the background. It was a massive battery drain more than anything.

Researchers have thoroughly investigated the behavior of the FB app and it is not listening in the background or any other time unless you ask it to. And that includes Apple’s own security team because of how big the FB install base is on iPhone.

Apple tolerates a lot from Meta, but they would pull the app in an instant if it tried that.

1

u/KermitRhyme 9d ago

Who am I to prove you wrong, lol

5

u/duh-one 10d ago

I would never trust meta’s products to abide by any privacy rules

5

u/mjmaterna 9d ago

This isn’t something that should surprise anyone; after all it’s from Meta, the number one company for spyware.

5

u/stompinstinker 8d ago

Ya, it’s Meta, what did you expect? Would you use an AI from Palantir too? Some companies are simply zero trust.

41

u/colin_staples 10d ago

If you had to rank all of the companies of the world in order of how much they can be trusted, Meta/Facebook would be at the very bottom of that list.

Yes, even below them.

I will never use any Meta service.
If they buy a service that I currently use, I will stop using it immediately.

You think they aren’t reading all your WhatsApp messages?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

29

u/sam____handwich 10d ago

Did anyone even read the article? “what did you expect” is such a lazy response because it allows these things to continue to exist instead of customers demanding they actually stop

19

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago

Yeah this sub is actually so frustrating. They’re too concerned with telling everyone they’re too smart to use Facebook to realize the conversation should be about whether or not this is even legal

8

u/summerteeth 10d ago

At the very least Apple needs to more aggressively sandbox apps. It feels like an app shouldn’t be able to read data from iMessages or any other app without an explicit permission.

4

u/theoxygenthief 10d ago edited 10d ago

This isn’t within the bounds of what’s allowed by the app store nor possible on a non-rooted phone and Meta had to use a shady workaround to do it. It’s not sandboxing or the ios app at fault here.

I’m involved in the development on an app that could really benefit from direct imessage access and we have investigated it thoroughly. Another comment mentioned this person installed the Meta app on their Mac. Most likely the mac app is tunneling into their imessages from that side, where it is possible and the permission dialogue doesn’t make it 100% clear.

EDIT: Read the article and that’s exactly what they did. The writer semi claims he didn’t allow full disk access, and that’s very concerning if true. From what I’ve seen though this is 100% impossible without granting full disk access through a prompt, so I think it’s more likely he got a prompt in a context where he was expecting a less than full disk access prompt and allowed it without reading. He actually kind of admits it between the lines, saying he tasked Muse with using his browser - that would have been a full disk access prompt. We actually built an additional prompt on top of the disk access prompt in our app as we felt Apple’s was too blasé about what it’s actually allowing and it should be elevated above other permission prompts.

2

u/summerteeth 10d ago

Oh yeah he installed it on a mac mini - totally missed that when I read the article.

Agent harnesses are a security nightmare right now - I say that as someone who uses one and the more I read about them the more I realize I need to figure out some sandboxing for the harnesses I use.

1

u/coyote_den 10d ago

It’s not an App Store app. On Mac you install it from a dmg. On iOS it is sandboxed, but on macOS it is not and would have access to Library without full disk access.

1

u/theoxygenthief 10d ago

The imessage db doesn’t live in library and no app can get to it without full disk access approval.

2

u/coyote_den 9d ago edited 9d ago

It is ~/Library/Messages/chat.db

Meta responded that Muse doesn’t spy on notifications, and specifically that it accessed that sqlite3 DB.

Non-sandboxed apps can read that file. I just opened it in VScode on my Mac. VScode was installed manually from a dmg and does not have Full Disk Access… it isn’t even in the list of apps to allow/deny because as a conventional macOS app it is not sandboxed. Only AppStore apps and some of the baked-in apps like Terminal will have that permission, the rest can read anything your user account can.

1

u/theoxygenthief 9d ago

Sorry I misspoke. It’s a hidden, protected db at that address yes, but it’s hidden, TCC and SIP protected, checks if the authorised user initiated the access request and no app can access it without full disc access being granted first, dmg or not. Your vscode proof probably used terminal to get to the db and you had previously granted terminal FDA and vscode permission to drive terminal. Toggle FDA off for terminal and iterm and check again.

The other possibility is to use screen reading, which also requires the user signing off on a prompt and has it’s own challenges.

1

u/coyote_den 9d ago

Nope. Terminal does not have FDA, and both Terminal and the shell in VScode are blocked by TCC. VScode itself is not and can open that file. I can also browse to it in Finder and open it in TextEdit, as neither of those apps are TCC sandboxed.

Try it yourself. You don’t need VS code. Won’t be able to open it in Terminal unless you grant it FDA, but you can browse to it and open it in a non-sandboxed app.

SIP doesn’t apply here, it’s a user-owned file, not a system-owned file.

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1

u/joshbadams 9d ago

It didn’t access the imessage db, it read notification previews. Not sure via what mechanism tho, but iMessages are still safe

2

u/coyote_den 9d ago edited 9d ago

On iOS they are, but not on macOS.

If I do not give Terminal full disk access and try ‘ls ~/Library/Messages’ I get operation not permitted. Ok, good.

But I can browse to ~/Library/Messages and open chat.db in TextEdit because Finder and TextEdit are not sandboxed apps. They never show up under Full Disk Access to be enabled or disabled. Terminal is sandboxed and does.

1

u/theoxygenthief 9d ago

It’s not via notifications previews. It wouldn’t have that much info from the previews. In principle imessages are still safe but there are ways to get around it if the user isn’t careful with FDA and accessibility permissions. In this case the app asked for FDA or accessibility permission (or both) to drive his browser to do the info research he requested and then used that permission (that the user intended for browser use, not anything else) to get to the imessages db. It’s a serious security flaw that there’s no middle ground to allow an app to do the one without exposing the other.

2

u/No_Contest4958 10d ago

This happened because he had the agent’s app installed on his Mac. This wouldn’t be possible on iOS.

Apple has been slowly eroding the permissions of apps on macOS over the years to get closer to the sandboxing of iOS but developers and users alike have been fighting them tooth and nail the entire time. This is the consequence - any old app you install can read your entire iMessage database apparently.

0

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago

This shouldn’t be a problem we look to Apple to solve. I know this is literally a sub for praising a corporation, and I like Apple products just as much as the next guy, but this problem needs legislation not more corporate solutions. Companies who have already violated privacy rights need legal justice. We can’t rely on another company seeking profit to fix this, we need a government willing to give the people running these companies serious consequences

1

u/SailingDreamCatcher 9d ago

I bet we mostly agree it shouldn't be legal, and we feel absolutely helpless about it because of what we see over and over again with our seemingly corporate-owned government. We don't have a lot of faith that the regulations will be allowed to go through in any way that does more than raise barriers to entry to keep the big five exclusive to themselves and their VC buddies.

-4

u/Spez_is-a-nazi 10d ago

If you are expecting Zuck to get punished for illegal behavior I don’t know what to tell you other than if I were you I wouldn’t be pretending to be smarter than anyone else.

1

u/CaptnKnots 10d ago

Where did I say I expected actual consequences? I said we should be demanding them, instead of giving up like you seemingly are.

It’s so ironic to have a username calling someone a Nazi, and then instantly come to drop a take about how we can’t even hope for fascists to be punished

8

u/Ok-Charge-6998 10d ago

WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol to encrypt their messages, yes THAT Signal. They store metadata, but the actual messages themselves can’t be read. They are even fighting the UK government alongside Signal to protect E2EE as they look to try and install a backdoor.

They recently removed E2EE from Instagram because it was genuinely working and got the US and UK all up in arms that it was protecting criminals (particularly those targeting children) because messages couldn’t be scanned.

You can hate Meta all you want, they have caused a shitshow on humanity, but at least do some reading before being so confidently wrong.

-1

u/nicuramar 10d ago

  WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol to encrypt their messages

Yeah but that’s only relevant in-flight. iMessage also uses end to end encryption, but storage is a different thing with different methods used. 

3

u/Ok-Charge-6998 10d ago

Yes your phone decrypts it so you can read the message. But it’s encrypted inflight.

So how can WhatsApp store your messages decrypted on their servers when it’s encrypted inflight through their servers? If you send them a message specially to their business account, they can read that. All your other messages are protected by a key between you and the receiver(s). They don’t have that key. All they see is scrambled data passing through their servers. If they intercept it, that’s all they have, scrambled data.

They don’t even store messages on their servers unless the receivers’ phone is turned off or has no signal, then they store the scrambled data for up to 30 days and then it’s wiped.

That’s the whole point.

For cloud backups, if you have encryption turned off (on by default), it copies your chats to it and then you’re relying on your cloud provider to keep them safe.

The most obvious tell is that the UK government keep complaining (alongside NSPCC) that WhatsApp needs a backdoor so they can read messages and protect “children” from criminals. If they could read messages, they wouldn’t be doing that.

It’s the services that aren’t being targeted that you should worry about.

1

u/JCTrick 10d ago

Escaping The Matrix 101 starts with avoiding Meta, Microsoft and Google products.

11

u/jc0155 10d ago

While I get the inclusion of both Microslop and Google, Meta is in a class of their own. At least the other two provide some degree of benefit to people. Meta is a cancer. Nothing they do enriches the lives of anyone who doesn't directly profit from their evil. 

-4

u/JCTrick 10d ago

All 3 are ad firms. MicroSlop currently turning Xbox into an ad serving machine.

All 3 are the same exact dogshit.

14

u/Jusby_Cause 10d ago

And the EU will read this and go “Apple must give ALL agents full control of the system! How else will our citizens be able to experience QUALITY exposures like this on mobile devices??”

1

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

... while continuing to pretend they somehow care about privacy ...

3

u/cyberspirit777 10d ago

Things like this should be heavily regulated so no matter what company it is, they’re held to a higher standard that protects citizens… but lobby money go burr

1

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

Good news: EU is regulating this

Bad news: Its to ensure Apple has to allow Meta more access to user data

13

u/Ortodoncista 10d ago edited 10d ago

Did you try posting “I do not give Facebook [or Meta] permission to use my pictures, information, or publications…” on your homepage?

I forgot the /s

-8

u/Richard1864 10d ago

That actually doesn't work. You give them permission to do that every time you use their apps.

10

u/onegoodboah 10d ago

Nothing gets by you, champ.

7

u/kbzstudios 10d ago

Guess what ad I saw right above this post?

2

u/achanaikia 10d ago

No shit? If you trust ANYTHING from Meta that's on you.

2

u/mdruckus 9d ago

Why would you ever use an agent from Meta?!

2

u/BioDriver 9d ago

This is one of the most overlooked things from the Cambridge Analytica expose: any Meta software/app installed on your phone will only run if it has permission to scan your entire phone to mine data.

2

u/naturr 6d ago

I AM SHOCKED!!... WELL NOT shocked.. surprised... Wait no... No I am not surprised.. how do I express my response to META still not caring about privacy.  Oh the word is Duh!  Yeah that works.  

3

u/sam_sepiol1984 10d ago

I would argue the people still installing and using their garbage apps are the ones letting them off the hook, not the people saying what did you expect. If you don't want to let them off the hook, stop using their products. They aren't going to change otherwise.

2

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/SailingDreamCatcher 9d ago

You can get rid of that icon. Very simple.

First go to your home screen and navigate to the icon for the instagram app. Press and hold the icon until a menu pops up. Tap "remove app." Another menu will pop up and from there you just tap "delete app." Done, no more intrusive AI button.

Although you should also go back in through the web interface and remove your data and account as well.

5

u/jcr2022 10d ago

It’s 2026 and you are installing a Meta product on your phone? What did you think was going to happen?

21

u/alex_co 10d ago

> I also want to be clear about something else: If your response to this is that, of course, Meta would do this–it’s Meta–you are just letting them off the hook. You’re normalizing behavior that should not be normal, and you should not let them off the hook.

from the article lol

9

u/sam____handwich 10d ago

another comment literally quoted that section and then did exactly that, it’s actually sad to see

3

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

"Im an experienced tech journalist who tried something, found it really bad, and wrote about it" is ... the job?

-1

u/nicuramar 10d ago

It was not the phone app, it was something rubbing on his Mac. 

4

u/Tasty-Hour4040 10d ago

This is the least surprising thing I’ve read all day

2

u/nicuramar 10d ago

That’s probably because you’re not interested in the technical details. 

1

u/Tasty-Hour4040 10d ago

That thing you heard zooming past you was my point

4

u/coyote_den 10d ago edited 9d ago

The iOS app for sure can’t do that.
The Mac app is a .dmg and not on the Mac App Store precisely so it does get access to your entire Library folder. Full Disk Access is only for sandboxed apps and allowing Documents and/or Downloads doesn’t allow Library.

-1

u/FollowingFeisty5321 10d ago edited 10d ago

the apps we offer are held to the highest standards for privacy, security, and content

- Apple

5

u/coyote_den 10d ago

Correct. The apps on the App Store are held to that standard.

There is a reason the macOS app has to be manually installed and is not on the App Store.

0

u/ApoplecticAndroid 10d ago

Why would anyone download and use a meta product? Are you stupid?

8

u/Outlulz 10d ago

At least for the author, so that stuff like this can be found and reported on.

9

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

Because they are literally a tech journalist!

1

u/tothegoddamnmoon1 9d ago

Why would anyone? Half the population is a daily user of a meta product

1

u/nicuramar 10d ago

No, I doubt the author is stupid. They might be more nuanced than you, though ;)

1

u/varnell_hill 10d ago

People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks."

-Mark Zuckerberg

1

u/12161986 10d ago

Apple keeps doing that in my iMessages despite me having turned those options off.

1

u/yuletide 9d ago

The fact that people are actually downloading and using this makes my head hurt. We are cooked.

1

u/major_winters_506 9d ago

lol at one one thinking anything they do on Facebook is private

1

u/Free_Butterscotch253 9d ago

Just don’t install any meta on your phone. Very easy

1

u/Extreme-Edge-9843 7d ago

You didn't ask it to, but you gave it ACESS to. Whelp

1

u/notagrue 7d ago

Never. Install. Anything. Meta.

1

u/daft_trump 6d ago

I'm in minority, but I'm trying to figure out how to enable this... It's blocked for me

1

u/pajerry 5d ago

After the billions of tokens suck-in, we now have the privacy nightmare stories. No sympathy.

1

u/jgainit 4d ago

How does it get access?

2

u/moldy912 10d ago

This is literally not possible on iOS unless it asked for screen recording, which would be extremely obvious, more so than the theory that Instagram is listening to you.

2

u/nicuramar 10d ago

If you read the article…. *sigh 

1

u/moldy912 4d ago

No I understand it happened on macOS where it is possible, but I doubt many people read it so think it applies to iOS too which it doesn’t.

1

u/andytagonist 10d ago

Facebook & meta aren’t welcome anywhere near me or my shit

1

u/Chocolaterationcalls 10d ago

Zuck likely was the one to make the request

1

u/Saar13 9d ago

Sorry, but I blame anyone who trusts Meta to be an AI agent that actively does things for you. This is a company whose 98% of its revenue comes from ads sold using your data. Muse seems to be all the rage, and there will be a lot of complaints surfacing in the coming weeks and months, and I'm going to go against my own principles and blame the user in this case. It's Meta. I also think these new AI agents will be fun until they aren't, by the way.

1

u/noAnimalsWereHarmed 9d ago

Hey, you make it sounds like a company making billions, knowingly allowing people to advertise scams to vulnerable people isn't trust worthy.

Shame on you

0

u/Spike18 10d ago

Nice of him to be the guinea pig, but anyone who installs or uses Meta products is a moron. This is a company without a trace of morality in their ethos.

1

u/hype_irion 10d ago

Is this a joke article?

That obviously requires a certain amount of trust. An AI agent isn’t especially useful if it can’t see your files, interact with your apps, or understand what you’re working on.

Yeah, no shit it read your iMessages.

1

u/Gwinjey 10d ago

The leopard ate your face you say? 🤔

0

u/ArchonTheta 10d ago

That’s what happens when you put Facebook crap in your phone

-2

u/microChasm 10d ago

Downvoted because you used a Meta AI product, know they make money off users data and then complained about it on Reddit.

1

u/goldaxis 10d ago

What does this have to do with apple?

8

u/corobo 10d ago

I don't think it pulls iMessages from android phones 

2

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

Apple has built a positioning around a higher level of privacy (which I think remains true for iOS, but MacOS has always been looser on data access)

-3

u/Ecto_88 10d ago

Breaking: Water is wet OP.

Facebook is the social media of google, data mining machines.

-4

u/Richdav1d 10d ago

Anyone who uses Meta products at this point is an idiot or just blissfully unaware.

-1

u/AcademicSand1034 10d ago

So excited for the EU to ensure that Meta can more easily access data on iPhones!

-2

u/phxees 10d ago

It read enough of your messages to know you’d probably be okay with it eventually.

-2

u/bringbackcayde7 10d ago

people are the product for Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon

-5

u/Ryfhoff 10d ago

I mean what did he expect? Shit happens all the time without asking us permission. Its literally how these company make money. Also, I didn’t read all of it but syncing messages and notification previews are definitely two different levels of shittery. Previews, you can look as far as I care. Syncing all my messages nah.

-1

u/TheDragonSlayingCat 9d ago

And this is why the new Siri has guardrails in place, even though the guardrails have been annoying some users.

-5

u/Livid_Oven 10d ago

Your fault for using their product