Italy Penalizes Meta With Massive Fine Over Photo Access

Italian data protection authorities fined Meta Platforms eight hundred eighty-seven million dollars on Saturday for accessing Android users photographs and videos without obtaining explicit consent or informing them properly.

The penalty equals eight hundred five million euros and affects roughly 20 million smartphone users in Italy.

Regulators gave the company 60 days to disable the offending feature by default and seek user consent separately.

The sanction stems from a Facebook app feature that suggested content from personal galleries for user posts.

The investigation began in 2025 and focused on how authorization was requested through a single app-wide process.

Authorities stated that the preceding notice failed to clarify that Facebook would generate post suggestions from local galleries.

The Italian regulator noted that it took into account the high number of people affected and Meta's lack of cooperation.

The fine ranks among the largest penalties an Italian agency has ever imposed on a major technology company.

A spokesperson for Meta said the company strongly disagreed with the decision and would appeal the ruling.

"This is a simple feature that helps people share photos and videos on Facebook," said the spokesperson in a statement.

"Users must grant permission on their device before the feature can operate, and they can change that permission at any time in their settings," said the spokesperson.

The investigation did not examine whether Meta used the media content to train artificial intelligence models.

The authority reserved the right to separately evaluate a new 2026 feature that processes gallery content in the cloud.

The Italian penalty follows a separate legal action in the United States where a judge ordered Meta to pay a 25 billion dollar penalty.

That American case involved allegations regarding how the company handled user data over the course of several years.

Meta must now decide how to alter the Facebook app's photo-sharing permissions within the 60-day window given by regulators.