Italy fines Meta US$887 million over Android users' data access
MILAN: Italy’s data protection agency said on Saturday it had fined Meta Platforms €805 million (US$887 million) after finding that the company had accessed Android users’ photographs and videos without obtaining their consent or informing them.
On Saturday, Italy's data protection agency announced a hefty fine of €805 million (US$887 million) against Meta Platforms for unauthorized access to Android users' photos and videos. The agency discovered that Meta had utilized a Facebook app feature that suggested content from users' personal galleries without obtaining proper consent or informing the users.
According to the agency's statement, Meta had access to Android users' photos and videos through this feature, which allowed users to post content from their personal galleries. The authority has given Meta 60 days to either disable the feature by default or seek users' consent separately.
Meta was not available for comment at the time of publication. The investigation, which began in 2025, did not delve into the potential use of the content for training artificial intelligence models, a practice that Meta denied. The data protection agency also reserved the right to assess a new feature, introduced in 2026, that allows content from users' galleries to be processed in the cloud.
The fine represents approximately 0.47% of Meta's global revenue, according to the agency.
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