Citing a lack of authorization and notification, Amazon has officially demanded that Meta exclude its e-commerce platform from Meta’s new Muse AI agent shopping experience.
Unapproved AI Shopping Assistant Prompts Pushback from Amazon
Meta recently rolled out its Muse AI agent in September 2026. Designed to assist customers in making online purchases, the tool draws directly from e-commerce sites like Amazon to fulfill orders for users—something Amazon claims it was unaware of until after launch.
An Amazon representative described the company’s concerns, stating, “We think it’s fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate. This helps ensure a safe, secure, and reliable customer experience, and it is how others operate including food delivery apps and the restaurants they take orders for, delivery services apps and the stores they shop from, and online travel agencies and the airlines they book tickets with for customers.”
Amazon reiterated the importance of securing provider consent and maintaining transparency whenever an external application aims to interact with its marketplace. The company also referenced standard industry practices in sectors like food service and travel to illustrate its stance.
Debate Expands over Consent Models in AI Shopping Platforms
Meta describes the Muse AI agent as a way for users to complete transactions using Link by Stripe, which offers customer benefits such as free coverage for damaged items, reimbursement for lost packages, and returns without extra fees. Nevertheless, Amazon’s chief issue is the agent’s inclusion of its platform without explicit agreement.
Meta has not responded publicly to Amazon’s objections or the formal request as of yet.
This development follows a prior dispute: In 2023, Amazon filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, another artificial intelligence provider, over similar unauthorized access claims. Amazon asserted that Perplexity’s Comet AI agent used its site to make purchases without proper consent. That matter is unresolved, as a U.S. appeals court decided in August to end an earlier injunction that stopped Perplexity from using Amazon’s platform.
Amazon Experiences Criticism over Its Own Commerce AI
Further complicating the situation, Amazon itself has tested comparable AI initiatives. Early in the year, it launched a pilot of “Buy for Me”, an agent-powered feature that lets shoppers browse and order products even from non-affiliated third-party sellers. Here, Amazon completed purchases in users’ names, regardless of whether those sellers had a direct partnership with the platform.
The unveiling of Buy for Me met with backlash from merchants, as Amazon automatically included vendor listings from across the web and only allowed businesses to opt out after being enrolled. The removal process required sellers to proactively email Amazon to have their listings taken down.
As technology leaders such as Amazon and Meta deploy AI-based commerce agents capable of interacting with rival marketplaces, disputes regarding consent, market transparency, and competition are coming to the forefront. The contrasting strategies of these tech giants underscore persistent questions within the industry over whether merchants should always opt in to such programs, and how to harmonize business and consumer protections amid rapidly evolving AI-driven commerce trends.