Italy fines Meta €805m over access to users’ photos without consent

Italy has imposed a significant fine of €805 million on social media giant Meta for accessing users' photographs and videos without explicit consent. The Data Protection Authority in Italy announced the penalty following an investigation into Meta's use of a feature that suggested images and videos for posts. The regulator criticized Meta for failing to properly inform users that granting access to their photo galleries would also enable the platform to generate content suggestions using those images and videos stored on their devices.

The feature, called "Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook," was introduced in 2023 and was enabled by default. The investigation revealed that Meta relied on a single app-wide permission to access users' galleries, without clearly explaining the implications of this authorization. The regulator has given Meta 60 days to disable the feature by default and introduce a separate consent request, providing clear information about why access to users' galleries is required and how to switch it off.

The fine was considered due to the high number of affected users, the duration of the alleged violation, and Meta's lack of cooperation during the investigation.