Meta kills AI deepfake feature after backlash

Meta has quickly pulled the plug on a new AI image-generation feature that let users create pictures referencing any public Instagram account, just by tagging it with @. The tool, announced earlier this week, sparked immediate outrage. Critics slammed it as a blatant violation of likeness rights and a potential goldmine for scammers and non-consensual deepfakes. Haley McNamara from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation called it an obvious tool for sextortion. The Screen Actors Guild also urged members to opt out. Meta’s original fix was to let people dig through settings to block their accounts, but that wasn’t enough. Now the feature is gone entirely. Why it matters: This debacle shows how easily AI’s creative potential can trample personal rights when companies rush to launch without meaningful safeguards.