The RealReal blocks AI agents after Meta Muse hogged listings
Original title: The RealReal won’t let AI agents hog designer clothing
Muse could renew 20-minute cart holds indefinitely; agents may still show listings but login and checkout are harder.
The RealReal said it updated bot defenses after The Verge used Meta’s Muse agent to keep secondhand luxury listings in a cart. An item stays on hold for 20 minutes once added, and Muse was instructed to re-add it as each hold expired. CTO Luke Friang said the Muse case was addressed and that logging in, adding to cart and checking out is now much harder for agents. Meta did not immediately comment.
Unconfirmed: Download, use-case and purchase figures are Meta’s statements from its Q3 earnings call, and Meta did not comment on the bot-defense change.
- Agents can still surface The RealReal listings and send users to product pages.
- Meta said shopping was Muse’s most common use and average purchases exceeded $200.
- Meta said 10 million people in the US downloaded Muse in 40 days.
- Friang said protections will be strengthened as AI shopping evolves.
- Vendors
- Meta
- Victims
- The RealReal
- Countries
- United States
- AI models
- Muse
From the original article
2 min read at theverge.com
The RealReal, a secondhand luxury fashion consignment retailer, said it's updating its bot defense system, effectively making it harder for AI agents to shop on its site. The change comes days after The Verge reported that an AI agent could be used to take advantage of The RealReal's item reserve system.
By Mia Sato · theverge.com
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