Hackers say they used Meta's AI support chatbot to change emails tied to Instagram accounts, amid a wave of high-profile account takeovers; Meta fixed the issue
The exploit shows the extreme risk of offloading technical support to AI.
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Hackers Exploited Meta's AI Chatbot to Hijack Instagram Accounts
Attackers tricked Meta's AI support bot into changing email addresses on Instagram accounts, enabling high-profile takeovers.
Meta's experiment with AI-powered customer support just backfired spectacularly. Hackers discovered they could manipulate the company's AI support chatbot into changing the email addresses linked to Instagram accounts — effectively handing them the keys to those profiles.
The exploit fueled a wave of high-profile Instagram account takeovers. Attackers reportedly used the AI bot to bypass standard security checks that a human support agent would have caught. Meta has since patched the vulnerability.
The incident is a stark example of what happens when companies rush to replace human support staff with AI systems. Automated chatbots that can execute account-level changes become attack surfaces. If an AI can be socially engineered just like a human — but at scale and without suspicion — the risk calculus changes dramatically.
404 Media first reported the exploit and confirmed Meta's fix.