Italy fines Meta $900 million for accessing users' phone galleries without consent

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ROME — Italy's data protection authority has fined Meta €805 million ($900 million) for accessing photos, videos and related metadata stored on Italian...

The Italian Data Protection Authority said the violation involved Facebook's "Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook" feature, introduced in 2023 to recommend photos and videos stored on users' smartphones for sharing on the social media platform.

An investigation found that Facebook requested a single permission covering multiple functions, accompanied by a generic warning that failed to clearly inform users that the application could access their photo galleries.

The regulator also found that the feature was enabled by default, potentially allowing Facebook to access users' entire photo archives once permission was granted.

The investigation began in July 2025 following a complaint filed by the Bolzano Consumer Protection Center and included a technical examination of the Facebook application.

According to the authority, the practice violated Article 122 of Italy's Privacy Code, which implements the European Union's ePrivacy Directive and protects information stored on users' electronic devices.

It also rejected Meta's objection to its jurisdiction, explaining that the EU's ePrivacy framework does not provide for the "one-stop-shop" mechanism that applies to certain cross-border data protection cases.

The changes must be implemented within 60 days, including for users who previously granted permission.

Meta is also required to report its initial corrective measures within 30 days and provide details of the measures implemented within 90 days.

The authority estimated that approximately 20 million Android users in Italy could have been affected.

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