Overview
- Italy’s data-protection authority announced Saturday that it fined Meta €805 million for the Facebook Android feature that accessed photos, videos and metadata without separate, specific consent.
- The penalty targets the “Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook” feature and requires Meta to disable it by default and ask users for a separate, clear opt-in within 60 days of the decision.
- Regulators said roughly 20 million Italian Android users could have been affected and that Meta’s generic, app-wide permission and default-on setting prevented users from understanding the specific access requested.
- The Garante cited Meta’s lack of cooperation and prior enforcement history as factors that raised the fine, and it rejected Meta’s attempt to shift jurisdiction to Ireland because ePrivacy does not use the GDPR one-stop-shop.
- The proceedings did not determine whether the accessed content was used to train AI models, Meta denied such use, and the company has the right to appeal as the ruling sets a notable precedent for European ePrivacy enforcement.