Italy Fines Meta €805 Million Over Facebook Access to Android Photo Galleries

Italy's data protection authority has fined Meta Platforms Ireland €805 million over a Facebook feature that accessed photographs, videos and related information on Italian Android users' phones without specific, informed consent.

The regulator said the feature, available since 2023, suggested photos and videos from a user's gallery to share on Facebook. Its investigation found that a single permission covered several app functions, while a generic notice did not clearly explain the gallery suggestions. The feature was also switched on by default.

The authority said Meta must switch the feature off by default and seek separate, specific consent within 60 days. Around 20 million Android users in Italy were affected, according to the regulator.

Meta said it would appeal, calling the fine disproportionate. The company said users must grant permission on their device before the feature operates and can change that permission in their settings.

The investigation did not decide whether gallery content was used to train artificial intelligence models, something Meta denies. The regulator said a newer cloud-processing feature could be examined separately.