Italy fines Meta €805m over access to users’ photos
The Data Protection Authority says Facebook did not clearly tell about 20 million smartphone users that it could reach their photos and videos.
Key points
- Italy's Data Protection Authority fined Meta €805m, according to the BBC
- The penalty relates to a Facebook feature that suggests photos from users' phone galleries
- Meta has 60 days to turn the feature off by default and seek consent separately
- Meta strongly disagrees with the decision and plans to appeal
Italian regulators have fined Meta €805 million, or about £670 million or $887 million, over the way its Facebook app gained access to photos on Android phones. According to the BBC, the country’s Data Protection Authority concluded that the company did not properly tell around 20 million smartphone users that it could reach their pictures and videos.
The regulator has given Meta 60 days to switch the feature off by default and to ask users for consent in a separate step. Meta has said it intends to challenge the ruling, according to a company spokesperson quoted by the BBC.
What the regulator found
The feature suggests pictures and clips from a person’s phone gallery as material for posts. Facebook asked for access to those galleries through a single authorisation that covered the whole app.
The authority said an earlier notice did not make clear that the permission would also let Facebook generate suggestions from gallery images. It pointed to the large number of people affected. The process is still underway for two groups: people who have yet to update the app, and people who had already accepted the system.
The regulator also cited what it described as Meta’s lack of co-operation. That point weighed on the size of the penalty, the BBC reported.
Meta’s response
Meta said it strongly disagrees with the regulator’s view of the facts, its reading of the law, and the scale of the fine. The company described the tool as a straightforward way to help people share photos and videos to Facebook.
Meta also said that people must give permission on their device before the feature can run, and that they can change that permission at any time in their settings. The company’s position is that the safeguards already exist, while the regulator has taken a different view.
Wider context
The BBC noted that the Italian fine is among the largest the country’s authority has ever imposed on a technology giant. Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, was hit with a larger penalty last month for its business practices.
In that case, a United States judge in New Mexico ordered the company to pay $25 billion, or £18.6 billion. The judge found that Meta had spent years misleading the public about how it handled Facebook user data.
Taken together, the cases add to scrutiny of how large platforms collect and use personal information. In the Italian decision, the central question is consent: whether users understood what they were agreeing to when they allowed access to their photo libraries. The outcome of Meta’s appeal will determine whether the fine stands.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Italian fine against Meta?
Italian regulators fined Meta €805 million, which the BBC converted to £670 million or $887 million. The penalty is one of the biggest that Italyu0026#039;s authority has handed to a technology company.
What must Meta change under the decision?
Meta has 60 days to disable the feature by default and to seek usersu0026#039; consent separately. The feature suggests photos from phone galleries as ideas for Facebook posts.
Has Meta responded to the fine?
Meta strongly disagrees with the regulatoru0026#039;s assessment and the size of the fine. A Meta spokesperson told the BBC the company plans to appeal.
Sources
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