Tech Giants Clash Over AI Shopping! Amazon (AMZN.US) Bans Meta (META.US) Muse AI Agent

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Amazon (AMZN.US) has blocked Meta (META.US)'s newly launched AI agent Muse from accessing its retail website. Reportedly, since last Sunday night local time, when users try to shop on Amazon via Muse, they receive a notification stating that continued unauthorized AI agent access violates Amazon's terms of use. Amazon stated it had previously asked Meta to proactively exclude its e-commerce site from Muse’s service coverage, but negotiations failed.

Muse is a personal AI agent officially launched by Meta earlier this month, designed to execute multi-step tasks and connect to services such as email, calendar, payments, dining, and shopping. After its launch, Muse quickly gained attention, surpassing ChatGPT within just one week and climbing to the top of the free app rankings in the US Apple App Store.

Amazon stated that the issue is that Amazon never authorized such access at any point. Meta did not inform Amazon in advance that Muse would access its e-commerce platform. The agent does not proactively disclose its identity during web browsing. Moreover, Muse appears to collect and store users’ account credentials, which Amazon believes poses privacy and security risks.

Amazon claims that if users give commands, Muse can access users’ account pages and order history. Since the agent does not proactively declare its identity, it effectively acts as an undisclosed third party operating inside user accounts, conducting transactions and handling sensitive data, all without Amazon’s knowledge or permission.

Amazon spokesperson Lara Hendrickson stated in an email: “We believe third-party applications representing customers to provide purchase services to other businesses must operate transparently and respect service providers’ decisions about whether to participate.” She added that asking users to opt-in is standard for food delivery apps and online travel agencies, “Third-party agent apps like Muse have the same obligation. We have requested that Meta remove Amazon from its service experience.”

However, Meta previously stated: “Muse cannot read users’ passwords or payment information.” Credentials submitted by users are stored in a secure area; Muse can use these credentials but does not see the plaintext, even passwords entered by users themselves in the browser.

Amazon stated it has already engaged in direct communication with Meta regarding the incident. When asked whether legal action would be taken, Amazon declined to comment.

This conflict between two tech giants has drawn much attention, especially since the two companies also have business collaborations. Since 2023, users have been able to purchase Amazon goods directly within Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms. In April this year, Meta also signed a multi-billion-dollar cooperation agreement to run its AI agent workloads on Amazon's cloud platform.

Therefore, this dispute is also a microcosm of a broader industry debate—when AI agents shop online for consumers, who should control the online shopping experience and customer relationship? Amazon has consistently blocked external AI agents from scraping data from its website. The company previously sued Perplexity’s Comet browser, claiming the AI startup concealed the presence of its shopping agents after Amazon requested their removal. Amazon has also subsequently blocked shopping agents from Google and OpenAI.

Amazon’s tough stance on agent shopping is related to its business model. Amazon's advertising revenue will exceed $68 billion in 2025. If AI agents directly perform search, comparison, and checkout, users do not enter Amazon’s pages, which could undermine traditional advertising display and product recommendation mechanisms.

Meanwhile, Amazon is also developing its own automated shopping tools. In May, the company launched an Alexa shopping function—an AI agent designed to research products and offer shopping suggestions. Amazon’s own agent shopping feature, Buy for Me, can help users find products on external brand websites. Amazon emphasizes that Buy for Me proactively identifies itself when visiting external sites and allows all brands to opt out of the service.

So far, consumers have mostly used bots for product research rather than having them complete purchases directly. Therefore, Amazon’s move to block shopping agents from accessing its website means it is unlikely to lose significant business in the short term. However, if consumers start using AI agents for purchases, these bots may opt for other e-commerce websites, leading to a loss of sales and advertising revenue for Amazon.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated earlier this year that the agent shopping experience still has significant room for improvement and that these bots often make errors regarding prices or other data. He commented in April: “We are communicating with all these companies, striving to improve this experience, and to find a solution that works for customers and all the companies involved.”