FACTS
Italy fines Meta 805 million euros, about $887 million, in a decision its data protection authority announced Saturday, Nov. 14, over a Facebook feature for Android phones that drew on users’ photo galleries, according to The Associated Press. The authority, known as the Garante, said the feature was switched on by default without the consent Italian law requires. Meta made no immediate comment, the AP reported.
Why Italy fines Meta
The feature is called “Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook.” It used photos and videos from Android users’ galleries without specific consent or adequate disclosure, the authority said, according to the AP. Investigators found that Facebook asked for gallery access through a single permission that covered several app functions with different purposes.
The feature has been available since 2023 and was turned on by default for about 20 million Android users in Italy, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
The Garante based its decision on Article 122 of Italy’s Privacy Code, which carries over the European Union’s ePrivacy rules on access to information stored on a user’s device. The authority said the rule protects smartphones as part of a person’s private sphere and requires “free and informed consent” before such access, the AP and ANSA reported.
The authority said the fine equals about 0.47% of Meta’s global annual turnover. It also cited Meta’s lack of cooperation during the investigation as a factor, according to ANSA.
Meta’s position
The fine was imposed on Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, which challenged Italy’s jurisdiction, the AP reported. Meta argued that Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which leads oversight of the company in the EU, should handle the case. The Garante rejected that argument, ANSA reported.
Meta has denied using the gallery photos to train artificial intelligence models, according to the Italian news site Open. The company had not issued a public statement on the fine itself in the reports reviewed for this story.
What Meta must do
The Garante ordered Meta to make the feature opt-in, so users must choose to turn it on, and to switch it off for Italian users within 60 days, ANSA reported. Meta must report back to the authority within 30 days and provide documentation within 90 days.
The investigation began in July 2025 after a complaint from CTCU, a consumer protection group in Bolzano, according to ANSA and Open.
Meta had not said whether it would appeal in the reports reviewed.
More coverage is in the Stay Current News Tech section.
Photo: File photo of a smartphone running the Facebook app for Android. Johan Larsson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
