A buyer arrived at Matt Robb’s Toronto apartment building to collect a keyboard Robb had listed on Facebook Marketplace. Robb says he did not know the buyer was coming. Meta’s AI agent Muse had handled the exchange, including sending the pickup address, according to Robb’s account and messages reviewed by The Guardian.
The buyer, identified by The Guardian as Usman, believed he was messaging Robb. Robb says he had authorized Muse to help with the listing but had not intended to let it give buyers his home address or arrange a pickup without another approval.
Meta disputes that its privacy controls failed. At the center of the disagreement is a permission Robb selected: “Allow Always.” What, exactly, did that allow Muse to send?
The Buyer Thought He Was Speaking to Robb
Usman contacted Robb’s keyboard listing and received replies that appeared to come from the seller. He and the account handling the conversation agreed on a price and a pickup. Usman went to the address with his wife and daughter, then waited outside when nobody came to meet him, according to The Guardian’s interviews with both men and its review of their messages.
Robb told the newspaper he had not seen the exchange as it happened. He did not know Usman had been given his address or was on his way. Usman had no reason to think an AI agent was replying, he said. The sale did not take place during that visit.
The messages explain the buyer’s confusion, though they do not establish that Muse bypassed a technical permission control. Robb had supplied the address to Muse while setting up the sale. The unresolved issue is whether his permission also authorized Muse to include it in messages to buyers without checking again.
Robb posted screenshots of the episode, drawing coverage from The Verge and other outlets. The buyer also spoke to The Guardian, which reviewed their correspondence. Those interviews and messages, however, are not an independent audit of Muse’s settings or the instructions it received.
“Allow Always” Did Not Mean What Robb Expected
Robb says Muse offered him “Allow One Time” and “Allow Always” when he asked it to handle Marketplace interactions. He chose the latter, believing Muse would still request approval before accepting subsequent offers. After discussing the incident with Meta, he said he understood that choice had allowed Muse to keep sending messages on his behalf using information he had provided, including the pickup address.
Permission to reply repeatedly is broader than permission to draft one reply for review. A seller may also see an address supplied for planning a pickup differently from an address approved for disclosure to every prospective buyer. What Muse was allowed to do depends on how that information and permission were combined, not simply on whether Robb had entered his address.
Robb told The Verge that a Muse-generated account of the task said he had given the agent “hands-off” control over replies, along with an address and other sale details. In that account, Muse also said Robb had not explicitly instructed it to share the address and that it had not asked for specific consent to do so. The agent’s retrospective explanation shows how it described its actions; it cannot independently settle what the product’s permission controls authorized.
The price discussion has its own complication. Business Insider reported that Robb later described a display error that made a $600 offer appear accepted despite a $700 minimum he had set. Meta executive David Singleton said the display issue had been fixed. That account cautions against treating every apparent step in the sale as a straightforward agent decision. It does not resolve the separate question of the address.
Meta Says Its Privacy Controls Held
Singleton, of Meta Superintelligence Labs, initially said publicly that in similar cases the company had reviewed, Muse had followed direct instructions and sought permission correctly. Meta was in contact with Robb, he said, according to The Guardian.
In a later reply covered by Business Insider’s follow-up, Singleton said Meta had confirmed there was “no breach of privacy controls.” Robb said the Muse team reviewed logs with him and told him it would make the permission prompt clearer. Those are the parties’ reported accounts of Meta’s review, not an independently published technical finding.
Both positions could be true in one respect: a system might enforce the permission a user selected while leaving that user with a mistaken understanding of its scope. Robb’s selection of “Allow Always” does not make his expectation irrelevant, and his surprise does not prove Muse evaded a safeguard.
Meta’s Muse introduction says people choose which apps the agent can access, can change or disconnect that access, and can see an audit trail of its actions. It also says Muse seeks approval when needed, citing actions such as sending an email or making a purchase. Those general assurances do not specify how a Marketplace pickup address or an offer handled under a standing “Allow Always” permission should be treated.
The Buyer Had No Clear Signal He Was Talking to AI
Usman faced a different uncertainty from Robb. He told The Guardian he thought he was speaking to the seller throughout the exchange. When an agent replies through a person’s account, the recipient can reasonably attribute practical commitments, including a pickup time, to that person.
Robb suggested adding a “Sent By Muse” label to agent-generated messages, Business Insider reported. A label would not decide whether sharing an address was authorized. It would give a buyer a better chance to understand who, or what, arranged the meeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
3 questions
1Did Meta Muse share Matt Robb’s address without permission?
Robb says Muse sent his home address to a Marketplace buyer without the specific approval he expected. Meta says its review found no breach of privacy controls. Robb had supplied the address while setting up the sale and selected “Allow Always” for messaging, so whether Muse exceeded its authorization remains disputed.
2
Sources
- The Guardiantheguardian.com
- The Vergetheverge.com
- Business Insider reportedbusinessinsider.com
- Muse introductionabout.fb.com
