Rome, Nov. 14 (LaPresse) – Italy’s Data Protection Authority has fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited €805 million. Through the Facebook app for Android devices, the company accessed photographs, videos and related metadata stored on the smartphones of Italian users without obtaining specific consent or providing adequate information, the Authority said in a statement. The measure concerns the “Get suggestions from your gallery while browsing Facebook” feature, available since 2023, which suggests photos and videos from the phone’s gallery for users to post while browsing the platform. The investigation began in July 2025 following a complaint by the Bolzano Consumer Protection Centre and included a technical analysis conducted by the Authority. The investigation found that access to the gallery was requested through a single permission covering the entire app and several functions with different requirements; the permission was preceded by a generic notice (“enable additional features”) that did not make it clear to users that they were also authorising gallery suggestions; and the feature was pre-enabled by default. If granted in full, this type of permission allows the app to read the entire photo archive on the device, generally on a permanent basis, without users or the Authority being able to verify which information is actually used.
Facebook: Italy’s Data Protection Authority fines Meta €805 million
Rome, Nov. 14 (LaPresse) – Italy’s Data Protection Authority has fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited €805 million. Through the Facebook app for Android devices, the company accessed photographs, videos and related metadata stored on the smartphones of Italian users without obtaining specific consent or providing adequate information, the Authority said in a statement. The measure concerns the “Get suggestions from your gallery while browsing Facebook” feature, available since 2023, which suggests photos and videos from the phone’s gallery for users to post while browsing the platform. The investigation began in July 2025 following a complaint by the Bolzano Consumer Protection Centre and included a technical analysis conducted by the Authority. The investigation found that access to the gallery was requested through a single permission covering the entire app and several functions with different requirements; the permission was preceded by a generic notice (“enable additional features”) that did not make it clear to users that they were also authorising gallery suggestions; and the feature was pre-enabled by default. If granted in full, this type of permission allows the app to read the entire photo archive on the device, generally on a permanent basis, without users or the Authority being able to verify which information is actually used.