Italy hit Meta with €805 million fine over Android photo access
Why it matters: Italy’s privacy watchdog said about 20 million users were affected and ordered Meta to change the Facebook feature within 60 days.
Italy’s data protection authority fined Meta Platforms €805 million after finding Facebook accessed Android users’ photos and videos without clearly informing them or obtaining specific consent. Regulators said the feature suggested content from users’ phone galleries for Facebook posts and affected about 20 million Android users in Italy. The authority ordered Meta to disable the feature by default within 60 days and seek separate consent. It said the probe, opened in 2025, did not cover whether the material was used to train AI models, which Meta denied. Meta said it will appeal and argued users had granted device-level permission that can be changed in settings.