Meta Pulls Instagram AI Update After Everyone Said They Didn't Want to Be Deepfaked; CNET, July 13, 2026

Katelyn Chedraoui, CNET; Meta Pulls Instagram AI Update After Everyone Said They Didn't Want to Be Deepfaked

"After intense backlash last week, Meta pulled the most troubling part of its newest AI update on Instagram. You will no longer be easily able to create deepfakes of other Instagram users.

"We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available," Meta wrote on Friday in an update to its announcement blog post.

Last week, in an attempt to prove that Meta's billion-dollar leap into generative AI had purpose, the company brought its newest AI image model to Instagram. It came with a new ability to "tag" any public Instagram accounts and include those people in photorealistic AI images -- essentially creating deepfakes."

Meta Removes A.I. Feature on Instagram After Days of Backlash; The New York Times, July 10, 2026

Eli Tan, The New York Times; Meta Removes A.I. Feature on Instagram After Days of Backlash

Users and Hollywood agencies raised privacy and copyright concerns about the new tool, Muse Image.

[Kip Currier: Another example that if enough people speak up about a controversial technology issue that really matters to them, tech companies like Meta will -- sometimes -- back off.

The specter of more copyright infringement litigation was also a significant incentive for Meta to "pause" the availability of the AI tool Muse Image on Instagram. Muse Image enables users to create new images by using content accessed via Instagram accounts as "raw material" for generating AI-generated pictures.]

"Meta on Friday paused a new artificial intelligence feature on Instagram that allowed users to generate images based on people’s public accounts, citing widespread criticism.

The feature, which Meta unveiled on Tuesday, automatically opted in any Instagram user with a public account. As a result, countless people’s likenesses were used in A.I. images without their consent. Users complained about privacy and copyright concerns."

Angry Instagram posts won’t stop Meta AI from using your content; Popular Science, June 5, 2024

 Mack DeGeurin, Popular Science; Angry Instagram posts won’t stop Meta AI from using your content

"Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned tech giant behind Instagram, surprised many of the app’s estimated 1.2 billion global users with a shock revelation last month. Images, including original artwork and other creative assets uploaded to the company’s platforms, are now being used to train the company’s AI image generator. That admission, initially made public by Meta executive Chris Cox during an interview with Bloomberg last month, has elicited a fierce backlash from some creators. As of writing, more than 130,000 Instagram users have reshared a message on Instagram telling the company they do not consent to it using their data to train Meta AI. Those pleas, however, are founded on a fundamental misunderstanding of creators’ relationship with extractive social media platforms. These creators already gave away their work, whether they realize it or not."

California police department investigates officers blaring Disney music; The Guardian, April 15, 2022

 Maya Yang , The Guardian; California police department investigates officers blaring Disney music

"A California police department has launched an investigation into its own officers who were filmed blaring copyrighted Disney music in attempts to prevent residents from recording them...

The incident reflects an apparently growing trend in which police officers play copyrighted music in order to prevent videos of them from being posted on to social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, which can remove content that includes unauthorized content."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is barred from Instagram over false coronavirus claims.; The New York Times, February 11, 2021

Jennifer Jett , The New York Times; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is barred from Instagram over false coronavirus claims.

"Instagram took down the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the political scion and prominent anti-vaccine activist, on Wednesday over false information related to the coronavirus.

“We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement.

Mr. Kennedy, the son of the former senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, worked for decades as an environmental lawyer but is now better known as an anti-vaccine crusader. A 2019 study found that two groups including his nonprofit, now called Children’s Health Defense, had funded more than half of Facebook advertisements spreading misinformation about vaccines.

He has found an even broader audience during the pandemic on platforms like Instagram, where he had 800,000 followers. Though Mr. Kennedy has said he is not opposed to vaccines as long as they are safe, he regularly endorses discredited links between vaccines and autism and has argued that it is safer to contract the coronavirus than to be inoculated against it."

Health Misinformation Is Rampant on Instagram; The Atlantic, January 10, 2019

Video, The Atlantic; Health Misinformation Is Rampant on Instagram

"When it comes to health advice, don’t take Instagram’s word for it. The platform is rampant with misinformation about wellness, argues the Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull. Behind many fads are Instagram influencers with perceived authority on health and wellness—the majority of whom have no real nutritional training or expertise."