Muse, the English rock band, appears to have lost control of its long-held @Muse handles on Instagram and X to Meta's newly launched AI agent, also named Muse. The exact circumstances of the handover remain unclear, but the episode has reignited concerns about the ability of Meta and other major platforms to reassign or "commandeer" desirable usernames to suit their own commercial interests, at the expense of long-standing account holders.

The band, which trademarked its name in 1999, had used the @muse handle for years before fans noticed its Instagram username had quietly changed to @museband around June or July 2026. By the time Meta officially unveiled its Muse AI agent this week, it was using the @Muse handle on both Instagram and X, with the band now going by @museband on both platforms. The switch caused apparent confusion, with Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives initially tagging the band's account in posts about the new AI tool, an error described as a "bug." Neither Meta nor the band has commented, but the incident echoes previous cases, including Meta's acquisition of the @Meta Instagram handle from a motorcycle magazine in 2021 and the @threads handle from a fashion retailer in 2023, as well as similar disputes over handles on X.