Meta Wants a Cut of Muse Agent’s Purchases. Amazon Isn’t Playing Along.
Trending Topics Jakob Steinschaden ● Covered by 20 sources
Meta wants Muse to earn a fee when it shops for users. Amazon blocked the bot, which could wreck that plan before it starts.
Based on reporting by Trending Topics, Jakob Steinschaden — read the original for the full story.
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Meta is trying to turn its AI agent Muse into a commerce machine, and Mark Zuckerberg has now said the quiet part out loud: the company expects to make money by taking a small cut from transactions the agent completes. That’s the pitch for the free service, which comes with a huge weekly token allowance. Meta hasn’t said how big the fee will be, which purchases it will apply to, or when charging will begin.
Muse launched in the US in early September as an app for iOS and Android, on the web at muse.ai and inside WhatsApp. It can write and send emails, book travel, fill out forms, build shopping lists and make purchases. It also keeps working after the app is closed and checks back in when it needs approval. On top of that, the free tier includes 100 million tokens per week, while paid plans called Power and Maximum cost $20 and $100 a month respectively. Even the free plan needs a payment card, which Meta says is for age checks and abuse prevention.
That shopping angle is the key to the whole business model. The more people use Muse to buy things, the more chances Meta has to collect its fee later. So far the launch seems to be going well: Muse has overtaken ChatGPT as the top free app in Apple’s App Store.
But the biggest store on the web is already out. Amazon locked Muse out less than two weeks after launch, and users now see a warning that continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon’s Conditions of Use. Amazon says Meta never asked for permission, that the bot doesn’t identify itself while browsing, and that it appears to store customer credentials. Meta hasn’t responded publicly.
The block cuts straight across Meta’s plan. A fee on agent-led shopping only works if retailers let the agent through, and Amazon is the place where a lot of shopping happens. Meta has lined up partners like Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora and Wayfair, plus Expedia, Instacart, Stripe, Shopify, Shop Pay and PayPal. Amazon is not on the list, which tells you plenty.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the part where the AI-agent dream hits the old internet’s toll booths. If a shopping bot only works where retailers smile politely, then it’s not a universal assistant, it’s a guest with a bouncer problem. The real fight here isn’t about convenience; it’s about who gets to tax the checkout.
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