Italy fines Meta €805 million for Facebook’s Android gallery-suggestions
Italian regulator says Facebook’s gallery-suggestions on Android accessed users’ photo archives without specific consent and orders changes within 60 days.
The Italian Data Protection Authority fined Meta 805 million euros for a Facebook feature that accessed users' Android photo galleries and offered “gallery suggestions” without obtaining a separate, specific consent, the regulator announced.
The investigation, opened in 2025, found that Facebook asked for a single, blanket permission that covered the entire application. According to the authority, that single consent was accompanied by a general warning which did not make clear that users were authorising the app to suggest photos and videos from their device when composing posts.
Regulator's findings and orders
The authority said the practice violated the Italian law implementing the EU ePrivacy Directive and that, if granted in full, the permission allowed the app to read the device's entire photo archive — often permanently — without users or external authorities being able to verify what data were actually processed.
The regulator also rejected Meta's objection that the case fell under the competence of Irish authorities, noting that the ePrivacy rules do not provide for a one-stop shop mechanism for this kind of matter.
Under the decision, Meta has 60 days to ask separately and specifically for consent for the gallery-suggestions feature, to explain clearly what the function does and how it can be disabled, and to make the feature off by default — including for users who have already previously granted the blanket permission.
The authority described the fine as the largest it has ever imposed on a company, underscoring growing regulatory scrutiny of how major platforms collect and use sensitive personal data stored on users' devices.
Photo: Piksabej)
