Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) stock continues to soar on the heels of optimism surrounding the company’s Muse AI agent. The AI agent shares its name with a popular British rock band, which was affected by the launch.
Meta Lands Muse Social Media Handles
Meta has added more than $200 billion to its market capitalization in recent days and the stock rise has helped boost the wealth of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
With Muse being a key product for Meta going forward, the company appears to have had its eyes set on securing the social media handles before the AI agent was publicly launched.
In a recent interview with Muse singer Matt Bellamy and iHeartRadio, the frontman said that he was sent "the beta version of the AI" ahead of the Muse launch.
Bellamy says he met with Zuckerberg.
"He’s alright, he’s not too bad," Bellamy said, as shared by NME.
Meta now owns the @Muse handle across multiple social media platforms, including X where the band is now @musetheband and on Instagram where the band is now @museband. Muse is not as active on X, but has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, compared to 185,000 for the @muse account from Meta.
Bellamy clarified that Zuckerberg and Meta didn’t "steal" the username.
"No, no. We had a chat. He invited me to meet him, and we had a chat."
The Muse singer says that there remain some trademark rules in place after giving up the social media handles.
"It’s a trademark thing. SO I said, ‘don’t touch music, don’t touch merchandise’, so I can sell Muse AI T-shirts, but I can’t make Muse AI, basically."
Some Muse fans have been surprised by the talks with Meta, given that some of the band’s lyrics reference technology taking over.
Taking Over Names, Social Media
Meta is not a stranger to taking over names from others in the past. The company, which was previously known as Facebook with the stock ticker FB, later changed its name to Meta Platforms and was able to secure the stock ticker META from ETF company Roundhill Investments.
On X, some of the top handles were taken over by the social media company in 2023, after Elon Musk acquired it.
This included stealing handles like @x, @music, @sports, @movies and @TV, with past owners of the handles saying they were not compensated and told they would have to pick a new handle.
Meta landing the Muse accounts likely shows that this is a product it has high hopes for.
Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock
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