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Warning! Don’t Post on Instagram Until You Turn Off This New AI Feature—Here’s Why

Have you ever posted a photo on Instagram and tossed your phone aside without thinking twice about it? Let’s be honest—we all do that. Most of us assume our selfies, vacation pics and random “photo dump” posts are staying exactly where we shared them. (Sure, your grandmother reposts them to Facebook … but that’s another story.)

Well, you might want to take a closer look at your Instagram settings. Meta rolled out a new AI feature on July 7 that changes how public Instagram posts can be used—and it has a lot of people very worried about their privacy. (And for good reason.)

So what, exactly, is going on with this surprise update? And will it also affect other Meta platforms like Facebook? Read on for the one setting you’ll want to check ASAP, plus a few other red flags to look for before you post.

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Why should you be concerned about posting on Instagram?

If you have a public Instagram account, this one affects you. Meta recently rolled out Muse Image, along with more than 30 new AI-powered creative tools for Stories, allowing users to generate entirely new AI images inspired by public Instagram photos and people’s likenesses. In other words, someone could use Meta AI to create AI-generated images based on your public content—not necessarily by copying your exact photo, but by using it as inspiration to generate something new.

And apparently, if you have a public account, you’re automatically opted in unless you manually change the setting. Yikes. That said, if you previously disabled certain sharing features, some of those restrictive settings may have carried over.

FYI, the policy is different for those who are under 18. Teen accounts have stricter privacy protections by default, and Meta says it doesn’t allow other people to generate AI images with these accounts. Even so, it’s still worth reviewing privacy settings on teen accounts to make sure everything is configured the way you want.

Hold on—is this legal?

Technically, yes. Meta updated its policies to allow certain public content to be used with its AI-powered features. Because the setting is built into Instagram’s terms and privacy controls, the company can automatically enable it for eligible public accounts. That’s another win for Meta and another loss for us.

How do you turn off this feature?

Thankfully, turning off this feature is easy to do. Here’s how:

  1. Open Instagram, and head to your profile.
  2. Tap the three-line menu in the upper-right corner.
  3. Scroll down, and select “Sharing and reuse.”
  4. Find “Allow people to use your content on Instagram and with AI features on Meta.”
  5. Turn Posts OFF.
  6. Turn Reels OFF.

What other features might you want to turn off while you’re on the back end of Instagram?

While you’re already poking around the back end of Instagram (because let’s get real, nobody hangs out in Settings for fun), there’s another privacy control worth checking. Under “Sharing and reuse,” look for “Who can create with your content.”

When I checked my own account, my AI settings were already turned off—but this option was still set to everyone. Yep, I changed that immediately.

This setting controls whether other people can use your public photos and videos in their own reels, stories or certain AI-generated creations. If it’s set to everyone, virtually any Instagram user can incorporate your public content into their own creative endeavors.

Does this also affect Facebook?

Sadly, yes. Facebook users aren’t exempt from Meta’s semi-secret update.

Since both Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta, they have similar AI settings. If you post publicly on Facebook, it’s worth reviewing your privacy settings there as well to see whether your content can be used with Meta’s AI features.

You can check by heading to “Settings & Privacy,” then reviewing the sections related to AI features, privacy and sharing. The exact wording may vary depending on your device and location, but Meta has been gradually rolling out these controls across its apps.

The bottom line: If you regularly post publicly on any Meta-owned platform, take a few minutes to review your privacy settings. You may discover options you didn’t even realize had been switched on—and that’s five minutes well spent.

Sources:

  • Instagram: “New Effects in Stories from Meta AI”
  • Meta: “Introducing Muse Image: Image Generation Built for Your World”

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