Amazon blocks Meta AI agent from shopping access

Amazon has blocked Meta's new personal AI agent, Muse, from shopping on its website. The dispute arose after Amazon attempted to persuade the Facebook parent company to exclude its e-commerce sites from Muse, but negotiations were unsuccessful.

Amazon stated that the issue lies in the fact that they never authorized this access. Meta did not inform Amazon in advance that Muse would access its e-commerce platform, and the agent does not identify itself during web browsing. Amazon also expressed concerns that Muse may collect and store user credentials, posing privacy and security risks.

Since Sunday evening, users attempting to shop on Amazon via Muse are met with a message stating: "Unauthorized AI agent continues to access this website, violating Amazon's terms of use, which have been agreed to by our users."

A spokesperson for Amazon said that third-party applications making purchases on behalf of consumers should operate transparently and respect the service provider's decision on participation. Meta has previously stated that Muse cannot read user passwords or payment information and that credentials are stored securely without the agent seeing them in plain text.

The conflict is notable given the companies' existing business partnerships, including users purchasing Amazon products directly through Facebook and Instagram since 2023, and Meta utilizing Amazon's cloud platform for its AI compute needs.

The dispute reflects a broader industry debate about the role of AI agents in online shopping and who controls the customer experience and relationships. Amazon has previously taken steps to prevent external AI agents from scraping its website data, challenging entities like Perplexity, Google, and OpenAI.