Italy’s privacy regulator said about 20 million users were affected and ordered Meta to introduce a separate consent request within 60 days.
Highlights
- Italy imposed an €805 million penalty on Meta Platforms Ireland.
- The case concerns access to Android users’ photos, videos and metadata.
- Around 20 million users in Italy were estimated to be affected.
- The regulator said users were not adequately informed and consent was not obtained.
- Meta must introduce specific consent and keep the feature disabled by default.
- A separate investigation into cloud processing of gallery content remains possible.
Italy’s Data Protection Authority has fined Meta €805 million, equivalent to about $887 million, over access to photographs and videos stored in Android users’ smartphone galleries without their explicit consent, according to a Bloomberg report published by NDTV Profit.
The penalty was imposed on Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd., the company’s main European subsidiary. The regulator estimated that approximately 20 million Android users in Italy were affected.
What the regulator found
According to the authority’s statement cited in the report, Meta accessed photos, videos and related metadata stored on users’ phones through the Facebook app without obtaining consent or adequately informing them.
The findings place the focus on how the company explained the feature and whether users were given a clear choice before their gallery content was accessed. The action concerns users in Italy; the report does not establish that the same findings apply to users elsewhere.
The regulator said the penalty amounted to approximately 0.47% of Meta’s worldwide revenue. It also took a previous enforcement action against the company in 2019 into account when determining the fine.
Meta given 60 days to make changes
Alongside the financial penalty, the authority directed Meta to introduce a separate and specific consent request for the feature within 60 days.
The company must also keep the feature disabled by default. The directions require Meta to change how permission is requested, rather than relying solely on the payment of a fine.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report. It did not include a company response explaining its position on the regulator’s findings.
Cloud-processing feature could face scrutiny
The Italian authority also reserved the right to conduct a separate investigation into a feature launched in 2026 that allows content from users’ galleries to be processed in the cloud.
That potential inquiry is distinct from the action described in the report. The regulator’s statement does not mean that a separate finding or additional penalty has already been issued over the cloud-processing feature.
For users, the immediate issue is control over access to personal gallery content. The regulator’s directions seek a clearer permission process, with the feature remaining off unless users choose to enable it through the required consent mechanism.
