Amazon Blocks Meta's Muse Shopping Agent, Escalating AI Commerce Control Battle

Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse AI agent from browsing and purchasing products on its platform less than two weeks after the agent launched, escalating a dispute over control of AI-mediated shopping and customer data. Meta (META) shares closed up more than 11% on Monday, Sept. 21, as Muse became the top free app in Apple's and Google's app stores. Amazon said it did not authorize Muse to access customer accounts, scrape data or process transactions, citing security and user experience concerns. The standoff highlights a central question in agentic commerce: who owns the customer relationship and who merely fulfills the transaction. Amazon recently launched its own Alexa-based shopping assistant, giving it reason to restrict external agents. Walmart is taking a cooperative approach, partnering with Google and OpenAI while developing its own Sparky agent. Target reported a 3.5x year-over-year increase in traffic from external AI platforms. Only 16% of shoppers are comfortable letting AI assistants make purchases, per Coveo, but McKinsey estimates AI-mediated retail revenue could reach $1 trillion by 2030.