Meta announced a partnership with Shopify that would allow users of its new Muse AI agents to empower their Muse bots to make purchases from Shopify merchants on their behalf. In contrast, Amazon has barred Meta’s Muse bots from its service.
Social Media Today reported on both announcements on September 22, 2026. The two moves appear to be going in opposite directions, and the report links them to wider industry uncertainty about the impacts such tools could have on the online shopping ecosystem.
What the Shopify Partnership Covers
The partnership focuses on checkout. Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke announced the deal on X and stated that Shopify will collaborate with Muse on “agentic checkout with Shop Pay on all Shopify stores.” He described the concept as a convenient and enjoyable way for shoppers to discover and checkout with Muse.
Practically, it implies that a Muse agent a user has trained can make purchases on their behalf at Shopify stores. Considering that all Shopify stores fall under the partnership umbrella, the implication is that every store a user browses will be covered by the agreement. Hence, there is no need to worry about specific stores being under the collaboration’s scope since the agreement encompasses all.
Moreover, the announcement implies that Shopify Pay will be the payment solution for the purchases. The announcement explicitly states that the agent’s purchase potential will be available via agentic checkout with Shop Pay. Consequently, it would be the tool enabling the transactions after the agent identifies the desired items.
The announcement does not indicate that other payment methods will be available. It only specifies agentic checkout with Shop Pay as the particular offer of the partnership, implying that it would be the exclusive one for the collaboration.
Zuckerberg on Discovery and Checkout
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his thoughts on the deal in a separate post on X. The collaboration will enable easier discovery and checkout in Muse, he added, calling it powering a new era of shopping via artificial intelligence-powered agents.
Discovery and checkout are the two extremes of a buy. The former is how a shopper discovers a product, while the latter is how they pay for it. Zuckerberg’s comment puts both in Muse, so the agent takes care of the path from searching to paying for it.
The Muse Agents Behind the Deal
The agents described here are new. Users will be able to make purchases via their Muse bots, so the agent here is an extension of the user who created it. Social Media Today has linked to this report from its previous coverage of the Muse launch, and the Shopify partnership builds on that by enabling agents to make purchases.
What Muse Agents Can Do With Shopify
The deal will let Muse agents search Shopify, find products of interest and even negotiate their prices on behalf of users. This list extends beyond the ability to purchase. The agent identifies items, selects those that match the request and can work on the price for the user.
Social Media Today reports that the arrangement could have a significant impact on overall shopping behavior depending on how many adopt Muse. This condition is important. The effect on shopper behavior depends on adoption, and the report does not suggest that Muse has already reached a large audience.
Amazon Says No
The other part of the story concerns Amazon’s reaction. The platform blocked the Meta Muse bots on its territory. According to the source, Amazon requested to be removed from the list of Meta’s Muse agents due to the company’s rules forbidding automation of shopping processes.
Consequently, Muse agents will not have access to Amazon’s goods and retails. A user can address a Muse agent and send it to any Shopify store, but not to Amazon. Social Media Today comments on Amazon’s reaction by saying this is a sign of the platform’s concern about the impact of such agents on its business.
In addition, the source notes that this blocking demonstrated general unease in the industry about the potential of such digital assistants. Shopify has agreed to cooperate with Muse, while Amazon has opted out, so the same technology has received different reactions from the two online retail giants.
Why Amazon Might Object
Social Media Today presents its interpretation of Amazon’s motives today. One significant aspect could be upselling and the additional sales opportunities that Amazon secures by attracting actual visitors to its website. Shoppers who go to Amazon can find more than only what they searched for.
If people stopped viewing product listings on Amazon, the report claims, it would negatively affect sales and the exposure of goods. In the publication’s opinion, that would diminish Amazon’s own services at the benefit of Muse users. The report argues that Amazon would be right to oppose Muse.
This paragraph contains analysis, not Amazon’s statements. What Retail Dive proved is the notice to remove and the mention of rules against automated shopping programs. The reasoning behind the rules is what Social Media Today speculates by analyzing the upselling aspect.
Price Matching and Competition Between Platforms
The report points out a second issue. Price-matching and cross-shopping by AI could cause platforms to lose out on sales to other sites, as AI’s roam the web looking for similar listings. A shopper that might have otherwise stayed on one site could have an agent compare a number of them.
Social Media Today takes the argument a step further. Giving agents access to the open web could eliminate convenience as a factor for online shoppers. Convenience can be a reason for staying with a large retailer, but if an agent does the comparing, the reason carries less weight.
Retail Giants and Direct Sales
According to the report, this could lead to the loss of business for retail giants, as more manufacturers seek to sell directly, or choose a cheaper platform such as Temu or Shein, which offer an alternative to big retailers. An agent searching for products on the web could be directed to these other sources.
The report sees this as one side of a change in the location of online purchases. Large retailers are those most likely to lose out if agents lead customers to cheaper alternatives.
Small Businesses Could Lose Out Too
According to Social Media Today, this situation would also be detrimental to small businesses. Owing to the purchasing power of major retailers, big stores can afford to sell their goods at significantly lower prices than their smaller competitors.
Therefore, if the buyers are primarily focused on the bottom line, it makes smaller firms even more disadvantaged, and the report shows this by giving an example that refutes the initial thesis.
What Happens if Agents Take Off
The publication puts the issue right out in the open. So, if AI agents take off as intended by Meta, it will have a devastating effect on the online shopping space, potentially cutting sales revenue for many retailers who would benefit from their use. According to Social Media Today, this could happen, but only if the tools take off as Meta hopes, which has not been the case so far.
The report’s exact wording is telling: The impact could occur if the agents take off and are linked to Meta’s hopes for the technology. It makes it very clear that thus far, Muse has not altered the retail space in any significant way.
The report’s open question is whether that would be a good or a bad thing for shoppers.
Winners, Losers and New Risks for Shoppers
Social Media Today believes that less costly listings appear to be winning in most respects. It also says that optimizing product listings for AI tools will become a massive industry in and of itself.
It also mentions a risk. It created a new chance for fraud to convince AI agents to buy on the order of their owners. A purchasing agent can be targeted.
The bulletin closes on a more upbeat note. Such a sudden change of direction could also, of course, bring less costly, easier way to shop – if customers are willing to frequent the few outlets that are left.
FAQs
Q 1: What has Meta announced with Shopify?
Meta announced an agreement with Shopify that allows the users of its Muse AI agents to pay for the purchases of its goods on behalf of Shopify merchants.
Q 2: Which Shopify stores does it apply to?
According to the CEO of Shopify, Tobi Lutke, all Shopify stores participate. Moreover, now it is possible to shop in them with the help of agentic checkout through Shop Pay.
Q 3: What kind of tasks can Muse agents perform on Shopify?
It is possible to search Shopify, find relevant products and negotiate their prices on behalf of the user.
Q 4: What does Zuckerberg say about the deal?
He believes that what they are doing will make finding and paying for things much easier in Muse. Mark Zuckerberg noted that it would “power a new era of shopping through AI-powered agents”.
Q 5: Why has Amazon blocked Muse?
According to the publication Retail Dive, Amazon requested removal from the list of Meta’s Muse agents due to its restrictive policy on automated purchases.
Q 6: Can Muse agents shop on Amazon?
No, agents will not have access to Amazon products or retailers.
Q 7: How can Muse affect the sales of Amazon?
Social Media Today suggests that reducing the number of direct visits to Amazon product pages may negatively affect sales and visibility of the promoted products.
Q 8: How can Muse impact small businesses?
Noting that large retail chains have greater buying power and sell their goods at significantly lower prices, the report claims that the use of agents to search for the best offers may reduce the visibility of small business suppliers.
Q 9: What risk does the report say Muse poses to consumers?
According to the report, fraudsters may begin to use various tricks to convince AI assistants to make purchases on their behalf.
Q 10: Will Muse change the way we shop?
Social Media Today states that there is a risk that Muse will significantly change the way we shop if a large number of users start using its services.
