How to block Meta’s AI image generator from using your content

After months of casually harvesting our photos, Meta recently unveiled the results of that: Muse Image, their new AI image generator. 

Much like other AI image generator tools offered by companies such as Open AI, Muse Image allows users to generate images from a written description, upload and edit images, and generate designed graphics.

Here’s the creepy part, though: Muse Image also allows users to @tag an Instagram account in their prompt, and it’ll incorporate publicly available images of that user. 

If you were like me and wondered why Meta AI kept asking to “interpret” your images, welp, there’s your answer.

How do we block Muse Image from using our content?

First, the good news: if your account is already set to Private, Muse Image can’t pull your images.

Business accounts aren’t typically set to Private, though, so if you want to protect yourself, here’s where to find the settings you need:

1. Navigate to your profile on the Instagram app
2. Tap the hamburger (aka the three-line icon) at the top right of your profile
3. Scroll down to “Sharing and Reuse”
4. Scroll down to the section labeled, “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta”
5. Turn off the toggles for Posts and Reels.

Meta was set to roll out this feature last week, so by the time you read this, those toggles should be showing up in your settings, if you have a Public profile.

Will Meta ever roll out a good idea in a thoughtful way? Not likely.

Just like with their rollout of Instagram Maps last year, Meta is infringing on our privacy and subjecting its users to auto-opt-in for this new tool. It’s more of the same from a company that clearly doesn’t care about the harms it’s causing. (just ask any of the multiple states who are currently suing the company)

I really have to wonder who benefits from what is, essentially, a deepfake generator. For many of us who own small businesses, our faces are a huge part of our brand. Case in point: months of analytics show that Posts and Reels with my face in them consistently outperform other content my business shares on Instagram.

The prospect of having our own images used against us is scary enough that at least some of us may feel forced to avoid sharing images of ourselves on Meta platforms. That could have real, quantifiable impacts on how much of our audience we’ll actually be able to reach.

Suffice it to say, if you haven’t diversified your online marketing channels, and started driving your Instagram and Facebook followers towards other channels, today is a great day to start.

Do you think you’ll change what content you share, or what platforms you’ll use?

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