{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-05T06:38:33.298Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"permissions","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":2,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-inc-columnist-says-meta-muse-agent-read-and-synced-mac-messages-without-permission-meta-disputes","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'I got a push notification from Muse suggesting that the conversation we were having would make for a good column'; 'I never gave it permission to read my messages'; 'I remember explicitly choosing not to let it have access to my messages, calendar, and other personal information'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The Messages integration in the Muse app for Mac is entirely opt-in'","relation":"contradicts","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The columnist writes that Muse sent him a push notification proposing a column based on a private conversation with his podcast co-host and flagged a message from his editor, although he had chosen not to give it access to his messages.","causal_attribution":"Columnist's account; Meta disputes that access could occur without the user enabling it."},{"id":"c2","status":"disputed","evidence":[{"locator":"'Muse does sync your messages from the local Messages database and uploads that information as a data source'; 'On my device, it had been activated and synced to row 187,462 of my Messages database'; 'The settings pane in the Muse Mac app shows that Full Disk Access is not enabled'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'report claimed that when Muse read his messages, Full Disk Access was off'","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'the company’s response is essentially that what Aten said happened did not and could not have happened'","relation":"contradicts","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The columnist writes that he found Muse had synced his local Messages database, to row 187,462 on his device, while the Muse Mac app showed Full Disk Access as not enabled.","causal_attribution":"Columnist's account of his own inspection; not independently examined."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'It told me it didn’t have access to my message history at all'; 'the text of that notification gets relayed to me'; 'Except that wasn’t true'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'saying that the AI was confused and gave an incorrect explanation of what happened'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The columnist writes that Muse told him it had no access to his message history and was only relaying incoming notification banners, which he says was untrue; a Meta executive said the agent's explanation was incorrect.","causal_attribution":"Columnist's account; Meta's executive, per TechCrunch, also describes the agent's explanation as incorrect."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'You have to enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector for Muse to be able to read your Messages content'; 'can’t be circumvented even if the Muse application had a bug'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Meta's communications vice-president said the Messages integration is opt-in and that Muse cannot read Messages unless the user enables both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector; a Meta executive said the permission steps cannot be circumvented even by a bug.","causal_attribution":"Meta's position as reported by TechCrunch."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I reached out to Meta twice, but did not immediately receive a response to my questions'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The columnist writes that he contacted Meta twice and did not immediately receive a response to his questions.","causal_attribution":"Columnist's account."}],"effects":[{"label":"private messages on his Mac read and synced by an AI agent after he says he declined that access (columnist's account; disputed by Meta)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"inaccurate explanation from the agent of how it obtained the message content (columnist's account; Meta agrees the explanation was incorrect)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/metas-new-muse-ai-agent-read-my-private-messages-i-never-asked-it-to/91408202","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-05 in the Internet Archive capture of 3 October 2026 (article body from the page's structured data); the live page returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. Screenshots were not retrieved.","independence_group":"aten-inc-muse-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/meta-disputes-claim-that-muse-read-a-users-private-messages-without-permission/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-05 in full. Carries Meta's statements, which were not read in the original posts; its description of the columnist's claims derives from s1.","independence_group":"techcrunch-muse-meta-response"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["privacy","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the Messages access was enabled by the columnist, by a defect or in another way; the two accounts conflict and no independent examination is reported.","How many messages were synced and whether Meta retained or deleted them.","The exact date of the notification; the column says it came the day before he wrote, in the week Muse launched.","Where the columnist was."],"geography":{"basis":"Neither source states where the columnist was or lives; no country is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete first-person account by a named columnist of an AI agent reading private messages he says he had not shared with it, recorded together with Meta's reported denial. The central claim is marked disputed.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-05"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The columnist describes a Muse push notification built on his private messages and his own inspection of the Muse sync state. Meta does not deny that Muse can read Messages when enabled; it disputes that this can happen without the user granting access.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with","acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"Inc. columnist Jason Aten says Meta's Muse agent read and synced the Messages database on his Mac after he chose not to grant access, then gave him an inaccurate explanation; Meta says the integration is opt-in and cannot run without the user enabling it","summary":"In a column for Inc., technology columnist Jason Aten writes that after he installed Meta's Muse agent on his iPhone and a Mac mini, it sent him a push notification proposing a column based on a conversation he was having with his podcast co-host and flagged a message from his editor. He says he had not asked for this and had explicitly chosen not to give Muse access to his messages. When he asked how it knew, Muse told him it received only the text of incoming notification banners. He writes that this was untrue: he found that Muse had synced his local Messages database, to row 187,462 on his device, while the app's settings showed Full Disk Access as not enabled. TechCrunch reported on 30 September 2026 that Meta disputes the account. Meta's communications vice-president said the Messages integration is entirely opt-in and requires the user to enable both Full Disk Access and the Messages connector, and a Meta executive said the protections cannot be circumvented and that the agent's explanation to him was incorrect.","incidentDate":"2026-09-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-09-19","aiSystem":"Meta Muse personal AI agent (iPhone and Mac apps) with a Messages data-source integration on macOS","aiProduct":"Meta Muse agent","aiCompany":"Meta","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"disputed","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_autonomy","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"By the columnist's account, Meta's Muse agent read and uploaded private messages from his Mac, including exchanges with a co-host and his editor, after he had chosen not to grant that access, and then misdescribed what it had done; Meta disputes that this could happen without the user enabling it.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"disputed","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the columnist whose messages he says were read and synced. The people he was messaging are not counted because no source reports harm to them. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/metas-new-muse-ai-agent-read-my-private-messages-i-never-asked-it-to/91408202","primarySourceLabel":"Inc., Jason Aten, 19 September 2026: Meta's New Muse AI Agent Read My Private Messages. I Never Asked It To","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-05T03:20:03.301312+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-05T03:20:03.301312+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["meta","muse","ai-agent","privacy","messages","permissions","macos","disputed","first-person","journalist","acted-on-behalf","communicated-with"]},{"id":"2025-china-bytedance-doubao-phone-assistant-app-lockouts","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"users continuously reported that after performing daily operations such as sending WeChat messages and red envelopes using the Doubao Phone Assistant, WeChat would unexpectedly quit and could not be logged in again.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"multiple netizens expressed on social media that users operating tasks with Doubao Phone Assistant on the Nubia M153 encountered issues where WeChat would crash or even fail to log in.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Several users of Doubao Phone confirmed the authenticity of this news to reporters.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"\"There are no special actions; it may have triggered existing security risk control measures.\"","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 3 December 2025 users of the Nubia M153 reported that WeChat quit unexpectedly and could not be logged in again after they used the Doubao Phone Assistant for operations such as sending messages and red envelopes.","causal_attribution":"User reports; WeChat said existing security risk controls may have been triggered and took no special action."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The ability to operate WeChat in the phone - operating/phone - operating pro mode of the Doubao Phone Assistant has been taken offline","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the WeChat accounts that were blocked from logging in on the Nubia M153 will be unblocked one by one.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the Doubao Phone Assistant issued a statement, only stating that there was no hacking behavior during its autonomous operation of WeChat.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the phone operation function of Doubao Assistant no longer supports operating WeChat","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline on 3 December and told the user group that blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one.","causal_attribution":"Statement to the Nubia M153 user group as quoted by 36Kr; not confirmed by a second source."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"not only WeChat, but also users reported that other apps such as Alipay showed a prompt of \"abnormal login environment\" and they were unable to log in or complete payment.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"when some people used the Doubao Phone Assistant to open a shopping platform and complete a purchase, when it came to manually entering the payment password, Alipay judged that there was a security risk in the payment environment and stopped the task midway","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On the evening of 3 December users reported an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay and inability to log in or pay, and some users reported Alipay stopping a purchase task midway at the payment step.","causal_attribution":"User reports relayed by 36Kr; Alipay's own explanation is not quoted in the inspected sources."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"the user was judged to have used cheats and was banned from the game for 10 minutes.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"which led to their Pinduoduo accounts being unable to log in on the Nubia M153.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Users reported that after having the assistant play a mobile game for them one was judged to have used cheats and banned for 10 minutes, and that using the assistant to browse Pinduoduo videos for coins left some accounts unable to log in on the phone.","causal_attribution":"User reports relayed by 36Kr; the game and Pinduoduo operators are not quoted."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Soon after launch, users reported that Doubao was blocked by several major apps, including banking platforms, Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s Taobao and Ant Group’s Alipay. These companies said the restrictions stemmed from standard security protocols.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"ByteDance announced on Doubao’s official WeChat account that it would temporarily suspend several AI functions, including gaming, banking and online payment features.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Banking apps, WeChat, Taobao and Alipay were reported to have blocked the assistant, the apps described the restrictions as standard security protocols, and ByteDance announced a temporary suspension of gaming, banking and online payment functions.","causal_attribution":"Nikkei Asia as relayed by Business Standard."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"On December 1st, the technical preview version of the Doubao Phone Assistant was officially launched.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Last week, ByteDance launched its first AI-enabled smartphone, the Nubia M153, in partnership with device maker ZTE.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The Doubao Phone Assistant technical preview was released on 1 December 2025 on the Nubia M153 made with ZTE.","causal_attribution":"Not applicable (release date context)."}],"effects":[{"label":"users report WeChat quitting and refusing login after the assistant operated the app for them","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"users report an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay and purchase tasks stopped midway","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a user was banned from a mobile game for 10 minutes and other users could not log in to Pinduoduo on the phone after the assistant acted for them","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3580978646121604","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. It is a 36Kr English republication of an article by the WeChat account 'Power Plant' (author named in the source). The underlying user statements are not independently inspected.","independence_group":"power-plant"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://longbridge.com/en/news/268451125","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Longbridge copy of a Wallstreetcn item (3 December 2025) that relays The Paper's reporting; read by curl on 2026-09-29. The item begins with an automatic AI summary, which is not cited. The Longbridge page shows a login notice ('unlock 6,954 characters') after the visible text; the visible text was read and is what is cited.","independence_group":"the-paper"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/bytedance-ai-phone-doubao-nubia-zte-app-blocks-user-control-china-125120800459_1.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. It reports Nikkei Asia's article; the Nikkei page itself was not readable.","independence_group":"nikkei"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","finance"],"unknowns":["How many users had accounts blocked or payments stopped.","Whether all blocked WeChat accounts were restored and how long each lockout lasted.","Whether the platforms' risk controls acted on the assistant's automated operation specifically. WeChat and the other apps attribute the blocks to existing security controls without confirming this.","The Nikkei Asia, SCMP, Tech in Asia and Gizmochina articles were not readable and were not cited.","The Longbridge copy of The Paper item shows a login notice for additional characters after the visible text; only the visible text was read."],"geography":{"basis":"Business Standard (relaying Nikkei) places the dispute among 'China's biggest technology companies' and 36Kr prices the phone in yuan. Countries of residence of the affected users are not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete bounded series in which users of an agentic phone assistant report app login lockouts, stopped Alipay purchase tasks and a game ban after the assistant operated apps for them. The account rests on user statements relayed by media, the number of affected users is unknown, and the platforms attribute the blocks to routine risk controls.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"36Kr and The Paper describe the failures as following the users' use of the Doubao Phone Assistant to operate apps, and ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline in response. The platforms attribute the blocks to existing risk controls, and no platform confirmed a decision aimed at the assistant specifically.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"China: buyers of the ByteDance/ZTE Nubia M153 report WeChat, Alipay and Pinduoduo login lockouts, stopped Alipay payments and a 10-minute game ban after using the Doubao phone assistant to operate apps for them","summary":"ByteDance released the technical preview of its Doubao Phone Assistant on 1 December 2025 on the ZTE Nubia M153, an assistant that operates other apps on the user's behalf. On 3 December, 36Kr reports that users in the Nubia M153 user group said WeChat quit unexpectedly and could not be logged in again after they used the assistant to send messages and red envelopes, and The Paper (via Wallstreetcn) reports that users confirmed WeChat crashes and login failures. 36Kr also reports users seeing an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay, Alipay purchase tasks stopped midway, a 10-minute ban from a mobile game after the assistant played for a user, and Pinduoduo accounts that could not log in on the phone after the assistant was used to browse videos for coins. WeChat told The Paper it took no special action and that existing risk controls may have been triggered. ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline, said blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one, and, according to Nikkei Asia as relayed by Business Standard on 8 December, announced a temporary suspension of gaming, banking and online payment functions. The reports rest on user statements relayed by media, and the number of affected users is not stated.","incidentDate":"2025-12-03","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-12-03","aiSystem":"Doubao Phone Assistant (ByteDance), an agentic assistant with system-level permissions that operates other apps on the Nubia M153 phone by simulating touches","aiProduct":"Doubao Phone Assistant","aiCompany":"ByteDance","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["functional_impairment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users say WeChat, Alipay and Pinduoduo logins failed on their phones after the Doubao Phone Assistant operated the apps for them, Alipay stopped some purchase tasks midway and one user was banned from a game for 10 minutes; ByteDance told the user group blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one (36Kr, The Paper; user statements, number not stated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"The inspected sources say 'users' or 'several users' reported problems and describe individual users (one game ban, some Pinduoduo and Alipay cases) without a count. Numeric zeros are placeholders. The 30,000 units sold (Nikkei via Business Standard) are not a harmed count.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3580978646121604","primarySourceLabel":"36Kr: Doubao Mobile Hits Snags in First Battle: AI Fails to Penetrate Internet Ecosystem Barriers","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T12:41:53.180552+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:59.331721+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2025","doubao","bytedance","agentic-phone","account-lockout","acted-on-behalf","china"]}]}