Italy Fines Meta €805 Million Over Facebook’s Gallery-Access Feature

ROME (Nazrana Times News Desk): Italy’s data protection authority has fined Meta Platforms €805 million ($887 million) for accessing photographs, videos and related metadata stored on Italian users’ Android smartphones without obtaining specific, informed consent.

The penalty concerns Facebook’s “Get Suggestions from Gallery When Browsing Facebook” feature. Introduced in 2023, it recommends photos and videos from users’ phone galleries for potential posts.

Regulator Finds Consent Was Not Clear

The authority, known as the Garante, found that Facebook requested permission through a generic authorisation covering several app functions. Users were not clearly informed that this permission could allow access to their personal photo galleries. The feature was also enabled by default.

The regulator estimates that approximately 20 million Android users in Italy could have been affected.

Meta Ordered to Change Consent Mechanism

Alongside the fine, Meta has been ordered to introduce a separate, explicit consent mechanism, clearly explain the feature and keep it disabled by default. The company has 60 days to implement the required changes.

In setting the penalty, the authority cited the scale and duration of the violation, Meta’s lack of cooperation during the investigation and a previous privacy-related infringement.

The €805 million fine represents approximately 0.47% of Meta’s global annual turnover.

Case Did Not Concern AI Training

The proceedings did not concern the use of personal photographs to train artificial-intelligence systems. Meta has the right to appeal the decision.

The ruling represents a significant intervention in digital privacy protection and reinforces the requirement for technology companies to obtain clear, informed consent before accessing users’ personal data.