ROME– Italy on Saturday announced an 805 million euro ($887 million) fine against Meta for using photos and videos from Android users’ galleries on Facebook without specific consent or adequate disclosure.
Italy’s data protection authority said the feature, titled “Get gallery suggestions while browsing Facebook,” violated an EU privacy directive incorporated into Italian law. The directive protects smartphones within a person’s private sphere and requires “free and informed consent” for such access, the authority said.
Investigators found that the feature was enabled by default and that Facebook requested access to the gallery through a single permission spanning multiple app functions with different purposes.
The authority gave Meta 60 days to deactivate the feature and request separate consent for its use. Italy has around 20 million Android users, the agency said.
Meta had no immediate comment.
The fine was imposed on Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, which challenged Italy’s jurisdiction, according to the statement.
The authority said Meta’s “lack of cooperation” with the investigation was taken into account in the sanction, which amounts to around 0.47% of the group’s overall turnover.
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