Urteil: Italien verhängt 805 Millionen Euro Strafe gegen Meta

An Italian court has imposed a €805 million fine on Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for unauthorized access to photos and videos of Italian smartphone users. The Italian data protection authority, Garante, accuses Meta of failing to adequately inform users about the collection of their data and obtain effective consent. Approximately 20 million Android users in Italy are affected, representing about 0.47% of the company's global revenue in 2024.

The investigation began in July 2025 following a tip from a consumer protection center in Bozen, focusing on a 2023 feature that suggested photos and videos from a smartphone's gallery as potential posts. The access to the gallery was enabled with a single, broad permission for multiple functions, allowing the app to read the entire photo archive of a smartphone, including metadata, often permanently.

Meta challenged the jurisdiction of the Italian regulator and referred the case to Ireland's data protection authority, where the company is based. Garante rejected the objection. The company must now obtain explicit consent from users within 60 days to access their photo galleries and deactivate the feature by default, even for users who have already provided broad access permissions.