AIBRIEF
Instagram now lets Meta use your photos in AI images by default, and SAG AFTRA, the actors' union, says everyone should opt out using the same in app path.
SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, posted a public warning on X this week that Instagram's new Meta AI photo permission is a likeness issue. The union told members to "take action to protect your likeness" by opting out of Meta's Muse Image feature, a new AI image generator that uses Instagram users' photos in its outputs unless they explicitly say no.
Instagram has flipped its "Sharing and Reuse" setting to default-on for the new permission, so every account on the platform now grants Meta that latitude until the user turns it off. The same opt-out path the union recommends works for non-members, as Wired and Deadline reported.
The path, in app order: open Instagram, go to your profile, tap the three-line menu, choose "Sharing and Reuse," and disable the Meta AI option. SAG-AFTRA's X post is the primary source for the union's recommendation.
SAG-AFTRA's framing tracks the same legal lane the union used in its 2023 strike against AI use of performer likenesses. Opting out stops Instagram photos from feeding the new feature as currently described. It does not address what Meta has already done with photos used before the opt-out, and the company has not said whether the default will change.