Meta's Muse is 18+, but its Jolly mascot looks like a kids' toy

Meta's Muse agent climbed the app charts by completing digital tasks, but it is the mascot — Jolly, a dressable, cuddly character — that attached the product to the cultural moment. At Meta Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg's furry Muse wore a toga and laurel wreath; Meta's chief AI officer Alexandr Wang posted nonstop Jolly memes. Meta's own framing, from spokesperson Daniel Roberts and product vice president Mona Sarantakos, is that the design is meant to be fun and less awkward than chatting with a corporate logo.

That framing is exactly what makes youth advocates uneasy. Josh Golin of Fairplay, a nonprofit that previously lobbied against Meta's targeting of children, says the rounded shapes appeal to preschoolers. Meta counters that Muse is adults-only and that it verifies age. The disagreement is not about the technology but about what a mascot signals before a user reads any policy.

The stakes extend past age gating. Meta settled claims regarding social media addiction in August, agreeing to restrict features for teens and to pay out up to $16.7 billion, and researchers quoted here argue that cute, frictionless design can make people drop their guard — relevant because Meta trains its models on Muse interactions unless users opt out. Whether the planned 'confidential' virtual machine ships in 2026, and whether regulators act on Golin's call, will likely shape how much of this criticism sticks.