Meta shut down a feature that let Instagram users generate AI images by tagging other public accounts just days after its launch, following pushback from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) over consent and likeness rights.

The feature, part of a broader rollout of more than 30 new Stories effects powered by Muse Image, Meta’s first AI image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, lets people @-mention any public Instagram account and generate AI images referencing that account, including personalized cards, memes, and edits between friends. Meta said the intent was to give users control over whether their public content could be referenced this way. It reversed course on July 10.

“We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available,” Meta said in a blog post.

As reported by Deadline, CAA had called on Meta to add guardrails to the tool, arguing that likeness use requires documented consent. “No one’s name, image, likeness, voice, or creative work should be used by any third party, including AI models, without clear, documented consent,” the agency said. After Meta’s reversal, CAA said it “commends Meta for its swift decision to remove the Muse Image feature,” adding that “putting individual rights and consent at the forefront is essential to building responsible technology.”

SAG-AFTRA had separately advised members to opt out of the tool through Instagram’s settings. Following the shutdown, the union said the feature encouraged behavior with “dangers of nonconsensual digital replicas well known to all” and called its discontinuation “the responsible thing to do.”

The @-mention tool was one piece of a larger effects update that remains live. The other 30-plus Muse Image-powered effects, including Night Flash, Disposable, Puffer, and IG Charms, are still available to Stories users in the U.S., along with a redesigned effects browser that lets users preview transformations across their camera roll before posting. Meta said five Instagram creators, including @zzdesign and @harukohayakawa, helped design a curated set of those effects.

Instagram users can still control whether their content is used to generate AI images by adjusting the Sharing and Reuse setting, currently available on mobile only.

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