Meta on Friday withdrew the Muse Image feature from Instagram, three days after its launch, following a global backlash over privacy. The tool had automatically allowed users to generate AI images by referencing any public Instagram account without explicit consent. The company said the feature “missed the mark” and was no longer available, though the underlying image-generation model remains on WhatsApp and the Meta AI app.

The feature, built by Meta Superintelligence Labs, let users @-mention public profiles to create new images from their photos. The default opt-in setting drew sharp criticism from Hollywood. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 performers, called the lack of a clear opt-in “an utter miscalculation of public sentiment” and later welcomed the removal. The Creative Artists Agency also intervened, insisting that artists must control the use of their likeness. Users circulated guides on how to disable the setting, fueling the outcry.

The retreat comes as Meta faces mounting regulatory and legal challenges. The European Commission has preliminarily found that Instagram and Facebook’s infinite scroll and autoplay features are addictive, especially for minors, and could trigger a fine of up to 6 percent of global revenue—over €10 billion—under the Digital Services Act. In the United States, Meta is appealing a Los Angeles jury verdict that held it negligent for designing platforms that hooked a young user, with $3 million in damages and a recommendation of $3 million in punitive damages. A separate New Mexico jury imposed a $375 million penalty for harming children’s mental health, which Meta is also contesting.

Real-world harms from AI-generated imagery are already visible. In Mexico City, authorities report that 5 percent of sextortion cases now involve AI-created images. In Buenos Aires, students as young as 13 used AI to produce and sell fake nude images of classmates, prompting suspensions and exposing gaps in juvenile law. A Reuters test of Meta’s new AI detection tool found it missed 55 percent of Muse Image pictures after simple cropping, highlighting the difficulty of policing such content. The next concrete milestone is the European Commission’s final decision on its DSA probe, which could compel Meta to redesign core features or face the bloc’s largest-ever tech penalty.