Meta has denied a journalist’s report that its Muse agent read private messages on a Mac without the required permission. The company says the integration is opt-in and cannot access message content unless a user grants Full Disk Access and separately enables the Messages connector.
Meta executive David Singleton described three layers of application and macOS approval. A user must open the system settings interface, confirm Full Disk Access, restart Muse and choose the connector’s access level. Without the system permission, the Messages options are disabled, he said.
Columnist Jason Aten reported that Full Disk Access was off when Muse referred to his messages. When asked how it obtained them, the agent said it had synchronized device notifications. Aten therefore suspects incoming notification banners exposed the text. Singleton said that explanation was a model error and maintained that the reported access could not have occurred.
The competing accounts have not been independently resolved. Meta has pointed to Muse’s security architecture and bug-bounty program, while the report raises a concrete path that warrants technical examination rather than relying on the agent’s own explanation. A separate user has alleged that Muse shared his address during a Facebook Marketplace task; Singleton said he was investigating that incident.