Italy fines Meta €805 million over Android photo access without proper consent

Italy's data protection authority has fined Meta €805 million (about $887 million) for accessing photos, videos and related information on Android users' phones without specific consent or adequate notice. The penalty concerns a Facebook feature introduced in 2023 that suggests images from a user's phone gallery as possible posts while they browse the platform.

The regulator said Facebook gained gallery access through a single permission covering several app functions, and the request did not clearly explain that personal photo galleries were included. The suggestion feature was enabled by default, potentially affecting around 20 million Android users in Italy. Meta has been ordered to introduce a separate consent request and make the feature disabled by default within 60 days.

Meta disagrees with the assessment and says it intends to appeal. The investigation did not examine whether users' photos were used to train artificial intelligence models.