Italy fines Meta $887 million over Facebook's access to users' photos

Detailed summary

Meta was unavailable for comment. The regulator said the fine was equivalent to about 0.47 per cent of the company’s global revenue.

The feature, available since 2023, suggests photos and videos from users’ phone galleries that they might want to post on Facebook. The regulator said Facebook used a single permission request for gallery access across the app. The notice was too broad for users to understand that granting access would also enable the suggestions.

In setting the fine, the regulator considered the number of users affected, how long the practice had continued and what it described as Meta’s lack of cooperation. It said the issue persisted for users who had yet to update the app or had already granted access under the earlier system.

The investigation began in 2025. Whether Meta used the photos and videos to train AI models was outside its scope. Meta denied using the material for that purpose, the regulator said. The authority could separately review a feature launched in 2026 that allows photos and videos from users’ galleries to be processed on remote servers.

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