Italy Fines Meta €805M Over Android Photo Access
Italy's data protection agency fined Meta €805 million, alleging Facebook's Android app accessed users' photos and videos without consent or notice.
Italy’s data protection agency said on Saturday it has fined Meta Platforms €805 million (about $887 million) over allegations that the company accessed Android users’ photos and videos without their consent and without informing them, according to Reuters and CNBC.
The regulator said the fine amounts to roughly 0.47% of Meta’s global revenue. Meta was not immediately available for comment when the reports were published, and the company has not publicly responded to the findings so far.
What happened
According to the agency, the access took place through a feature in the Facebook app for Android that suggested content from users’ personal photo galleries that they could post. The regulator concluded that users were neither asked for permission nor told that the app was reaching into their galleries. The BBC reported that the company is accused of not informing about 20 million users that it had access to their photos; the other reports reviewed did not include that figure, so it could not be cross-checked.
The investigation began in 2025. The agency said it did not examine whether the content was used to train artificial intelligence models. According to the agency’s statement as reported by Reuters, Meta denied using the material for that purpose.
What Meta must do
The agency gave Meta 60 days to switch the feature off by default and to seek users’ consent separately before turning it on. It also said it reserves the right to separately assess a new 2026 feature that processes gallery content in the cloud, a feature that was not part of this decision.
Why it matters
Italy’s data protection authority is one of the European regulators enforcing the EU’s privacy rules, and fines of this size against large technology companies draw attention because they point to how strictly regulators view access to personal files on phones. At roughly €805 million, the penalty is among the larger privacy fines imposed on Meta in Europe, though the sources reviewed did not give a ranking.
Photos and videos stored on a phone are among the most personal data people hold, and the case centers on whether apps may reach into them to power suggestions without clear permission.
What is not yet known
Meta has not said whether it will appeal the decision or change the feature. It is also unclear how many users in Italy or elsewhere were affected, since the figure cited by the BBC was not repeated in the other coverage reviewed. Allegations in the decision reflect the regulator’s findings; Meta has not publicly responded to them, and any appeal could change the outcome.
Further details on how the company will comply, and whether other European regulators will examine the same feature, have not been announced.
