The next platform shift? Meta wants to own what happens after the scroll

What’s happening?

Muse, Meta’s personal AI agent, is six weeks old and already showing signs of commercial traction. On its latest earnings call, Meta outlined plans to monetize Muse for consumers and businesses. More than 10 million people in the US and Canada have set it up. Shopping is its most common use case, with more than a quarter of users engaging with shopping-related experiences and an average purchase value of over $200, including travel, according to Meta.

The bigger story is what Muse could mean for Meta’s business. Facebook and Instagram influence discovery and demand; Muse could extend that role into product evaluation, purchase and transactions.

Meta has previewed its Personal Agent Protocol, designed to let consumer and business agents interact within permissions set by users and businesses. Its AI tools can also help small businesses analyze performance and build advertising campaigns, potentially bringing media capabilities within reach of businesses without dedicated marketing teams. Meta has signaled its intention to deepen advertising integration, although the details and timing remain unclear.

Ads aren’t available inside Muse today, but Meta is exploring how to capture more value from the demand its platforms already generate.

Why this matters for brands

If Muse connects discovery across Facebook and Instagram with product evaluation and transactions, Meta’s role could extend well beyond media delivery, creating a more direct route from exposure to purchase and raising new questions about brand control. Who owns the customer relationship? What data can brands access? How much visibility will they have into decisions and transactions? And when several competing products meet a shopper’s needs, what determines which brands Muse recommends?

Connecting media more directly to transactions could change how performance is generated and measured, but a more connected journey doesn’t guarantee better returns. Brands need an incrementality-led measurement framework, using tools such as Conversion Lift Studies where appropriate, to establish whether agent-assisted purchases generate additional sales or simply capture existing demand.

Meta’s monetization plans introduce a more immediate commercial consideration. Muse is expected to remain free for most consumers, while Meta has discussed subscriptions and transaction fees for businesses. Fee levels and implementation timelines remain unconfirmed, but Meta has indicated it intends to monetize Muse sooner than it typically would for a new product. For advertisers, the key question is how transaction fees will sit alongside existing Meta media investment and affect the overall cost of generating a sale.

What marketers can do today

With Muse already available in the US, marketers should assess how Meta’s ambitions could affect existing investment and the journey from demand generation to conversion.

First, establish your position on agent access. Brands can restrict agents from accessing their websites, allow them to browse product pages as a shopper would, or integrate through protocols such as Meta’s Personal Agent Protocol to define what agents can access and do. Each approach has implications for discoverability, customer experience, data access and control. With businesses such as Amazon, Walmart and Shopify taking different approaches to agent access and integration, brands should define their position based on their commercial priorities and risk tolerance.

Second, prepare your creative and product data for AI-driven discovery. Creative must capture human attention while helping machines evaluate products. That means complete product attributes, accurate pricing and availability, clear shipping and return policies, and accessible product reviews. These foundations are increasingly important to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), helping agents interpret, compare and recommend products. Audit your creative and product information for both human audiences and AI-driven discovery.

Third, get clarity on measurement and commercial terms. As Meta develops new routes to purchase, marketers should establish how agent-assisted transactions will be attributed, how incremental value will be measured and what customer data brands will retain. Key questions for Meta include:

• What transaction fees will apply, and when will they be introduced?
• How will Muse decide which products to recommend when several brands meet a shopper’s needs?
• What visibility will brands have into agent sessions, recommendations and customer behavior?
• How will agent-assisted orders be attributed to the media that influenced them, and how can incremental impact be measured?
• Who owns the transaction and customer record, and how will consent for future marketing be managed?

Finally, track the developments that could make agent-led commerce a measurable investment opportunity: live transaction capabilities, confirmed commercial terms, deeper advertising integration and evidence of sustained engagement. For relevant categories, these could inform controlled pilots with clear success criteria, incrementality measurement and agreed data access.

Meta’s next move could be less about selling ads and more about capturing the commercial value they create. For marketers, the priority is ensuring any new route to purchase delivers incremental value.