Italy Fines Meta 805 Million Euros Over Unauthorized Android Data Access
Italy's privacy watchdog fined Meta Platforms 805 million euros for accessing Android users' photos and videos without consent, affecting 20 million people.
The Italian Data Protection Authority has slapped Meta Platforms with an 805 million euro fine after determining the tech giant accessed Android users' photos and videos without obtaining proper consent or notifying them, according to reports by CNBC.
According to the regulatory body, Meta gained access to personal galleries of Android users through a Facebook app feature that suggested content for publication. The authority gave Meta 60 days to disable the feature by default and separately seek explicit user consent. Approximately 20 million Android users in Italy were affected by the data privacy violation.
A Meta Platforms spokesperson strongly disagreed with the regulatory decision, calling the fine disproportionate and confirming plans to appeal. The representative stated that the tool is simply a feature helping people share media on Facebook, noting that users must grant device-level permissions before it operates and can modify those settings at any time.
The Italian privacy watchdog noted that the investigation, which began in 2025, did not address the potential use of content for training artificial intelligence models—a practice denied by Meta. The authority reserved the right to separately review a new 2026 feature enabling cloud-based processing of user gallery content. The penalty equals roughly 0.47 percent of the group's global revenues.
