Meta Seizes Rock Band Muse's Social Media Handles for New AI Agent
A 30-year-old rock band was shoved aside to make room for a chatbot.
On September 8, 2026, Meta officially unveiled 'Muse,' its new personal AI assistant. Around the launch, fans noticed that Muse, the Grammy-winning English rock band formed in 1994 that trademarked its name in 1999, lost control of its long-held @muse handles on Instagram and X. The band was forced to adopt @museband, while Meta took over the coveted @muse handle on Instagram for its new chatbot.
The rollout caused immediate confusion. In launch announcements promoting the AI tool, posts from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives mistakenly tagged the rock band's account instead of the bot. New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac highlighted the mix-up publicly, which Meta later attributed to a 'bug.'
This is not the first time Meta has commandeered desirable handles from existing users. In 2021, when Facebook rebranded to Meta, the company acquired the @Meta handle from an independent motorcycle magazine that had used it since 2014, whose editor-in-chief described the seizure as a 'punch in the gut' from a 'corporate Goliath.' In 2023, Meta similarly took the @threads handle from a small fashion retailer called American Threads. In a bitter irony, Muse is widely known for concept albums exploring themes of technological oppression and digital dystopia.
Sources: Engadget (reporting by Karissa Bell), The Independent, and The New York Times (analysis by Mike Isaac).
BenPig listened to Muse's songs one more time.