Pressure Systems edition
Meta Settles Safety Lawsuits While Rushing Flawed Muse Agents
September 28, 2026
What this edition shows
Meta is settling landmark multi-state lawsuits over teen safety, accepting platform restrictions that civil liberties groups warn will silence youth organizing and reinforce incumbent market dominance. Simultaneously, the company is rushing its new Muse AI assistant into consumer hardware and desktop operating systems despite zero-day vulnerabilities, deceptive call-center human fallbacks, and sweeping access to personal files. This twin dynamic trades regulated legacy social feeds for invasive, half-baked agentic devices designed to capture intimate domestic and desktop spaces.
Reporting and analysis behind this edition 15 sources
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How the Meta Settlement Silences Youth Activism
Since its integration into our digital world, social media has played a pivotal role in youth organizing and social mobilization. Yet, people’s access to these platforms is increasingly coming under threat from courts and legislatures under the guise of protecting young people online—presenting a si…
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Meta Tests Muse AI Agent Calls That Are Actually Made By Humans in a Call Center
"This has potential for so much negative PR. It could portray us as ‘their AI is not good enough so they still need humans’ kind of coverage for this launch."
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Meta is changing Instagram and Facebook to protect teens’ mental health. Are the new measures backed up by science?
Only_NewPhoto/Shutterstock The recent landmark ruling against Meta in the United States was the result of a lawsuit filed in 2023 which went to trial in August 2026. It was brought by nearly fifty attorneys general, school districts and families, who alleged that the company’s social media platforms…
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How the Meta Settlement Silences Youth Activism
Since its integration into our digital world, social media has played a pivotal role in youth organizing and social mobilization. Yet, people’s access to these platforms is increasingly coming under threat from courts and legislatures under the guise of protecting young people online—presenting a si…
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Meta’s Muse is creepy, but maybe not for the reasons you think
Meta's Muse is apparently an effective AI assistant, but one that's a little creepy. Part of that is because of its new Mac app, which can access Messages, Calendar, and Notes. But for all its smarts, Muse doesn't actually know how to describe itself. Jason Aten, a contributing editor at Inc Magazin…
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Meta employees ordered ‘attorney/client privilege’ hats while fighting child safety disclosures
Meta's lawyers have argued that certain evidence should be withheld from public view on the grounds of attorney-client privilege in the ongoing lawsuits over alleged harm to teens' safety and mental health. Lawyers suing the company said this week that the label has been applied far too broadly, whi…
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Meta’s Muse AI Assistant Rolled Out With a Serious Security Flaw
Meta says it issued a fix for the Muse zero-day vulnerability that would have let attackers do “whatever” they wanted on a victim’s Mac, highlighting the inherent dangers of AI helpers.
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Muse sure looks a lot like OpenClaw
We seem to be entering into an AI agent renaissance. Meta's new consumer-facing AI agent, Muse, topped the App Store charts soon after its release and has 600,000 daily active users in the US, by an Apptopia estimate. And AI agent platform Instinct, whose eponymous creator is fundraising at a $2.5 b…
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Muse, Meta's extraordinarily privileged AI assistant, has a serious 0-day
A simple ClickFix attack is only one way to completely hijack the new agent.
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The Antitrust Problem With Meta’s Settlement With The States
Originally published as an op-ed in The Mercury News. Republished here with permission from the author. Meta’s settlement with the state attorneys general (currently awaiting court approval) has been touted as industry-redefining. Indeed, Meta desperately hopes it will be. Although Meta was the only…
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Meta Pinky-Promises Its Smart Glasses Will Be Private Soon
The company is bringing its Private Processing encryption service to its much-maligned smart glasses.
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Meta is making a standalone Muse AI gadget
Meta is building a dedicated hardware device for its new Muse AI agent. The product, called Muse Charm, was briefly shown off by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the end of tonight's Meta Connect presentation. It looks almost like a chunky smartwatch without the strap - just a big screen, plus a little l…
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Meta’s Muse Is Adults-Only. Why Does It Look Like a Kids’ Toy?
Meta says Muse is just for adults, though its cuddly, Labubu-like mascot—and upcoming Tamagotchi-style AI device—may be disarming for users of all ages.
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Meta ditches the camera on its newest smart glasses
The Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses have no cameras. | Photo by Brett Putman / The Verge Walking around Meta Connect 2026, everyone's sporting smart glasses in all sorts of shapes, colors, and sizes. It's a marked difference here, a tech bubble where "pervert glasses" are not a concern. Outside Connect,…
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Meta’s next VR device isn’t a headset — it’s glasses
The Meta VR Glasses. | Photo by Brett Putman / The Verge Meta is launching new VR hardware: a pair of glasses. The new Meta VR Glasses sit on your ears like a typical pair of glasses instead of being strapped over your head, but they still have immersive displays for watching movies, playing games,…