Italian regulators have imposed a €805m fine on Meta for accessing photos from Android users without their specific consent. The Italian Data Protection Authority determined that the social media giant failed to properly inform approximately 20 million smartphone users about its access to their photo and video libraries.
Facebook app feature details
The penalty relates to a specific function within the Facebook app that suggests photos and videos from a user’s phone gallery as ideas for new posts. According to the regulator, Facebook requested access to these galleries through a single, app-wide authorization. The authority stated that a preceding notice did not clearly explain that this broad permission would also allow Facebook to generate suggestions based on the photos stored in the user’s gallery.
The regulator noted that the high number of people affected was a key factor in the decision. The issue remains ongoing for individuals who have not updated the application and for those who have already provided consent to the system.
Compliance deadline and penalties
Meta has been given 60 days to disable the feature by default and to seek separate consent from users. This sanction is among the largest ever imposed by an Italian authority on a technology company.
This ruling follows a separate legal development last month, where a US judge in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $25bn. That order came after the court found the company had spent years providing inaccurate information to the public regarding how it handled Facebook user data. Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, faces these penalties as part of a broader series of regulatory challenges.
Source: BBC
