Meta disputes a report that Muse read private messages without permission

TechCrunch reported on September 30 that journalist Jason Aten said Meta's Muse appeared to read private Messages data during testing. Meta executive David Singleton replied that macOS access requires Full Disk Access, a Messages permission choice, and another system confirmation. He said the protections cannot be bypassed by a Muse bug, according to the report.

For makers, the dispute shows why a permission label is not enough for an agent with local access. Users need the scope, grant time, and action that used it. A mismatch between expected and actual access can become a trust failure even when the platform says consent was required.

Build a permission ledger for every connector and local capability. Log grants, reads, and denials, show the scope before action, and test each permission missing. Preserve a clear explanation when a task stops instead of guessing or silently retrying.