TL;DR
Italy’s data protection authority fined Meta Platforms Ireland €805 million over Facebook’s Android gallery-suggestion feature, saying users were not properly informed or asked for specific consent. Meta said it will appeal; the regulator ordered changes within 60 days. The case does not determine whether gallery content was used to train AI.
Italy’s data protection authority fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited €805 million on November 14 over a Facebook feature on Android that suggests photos and videos from users’ phone galleries. The Garante said the feature lacked specific, informed consent and was switched on by default; it ordered Meta to change how the feature obtains permission and operates.
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The case concerns “Get tips from your gallery while browsing Facebook,” a feature available since 2023. According to the Garante, Facebook requested gallery access through one permission covering the whole app and multiple functions. A generic notice referring to enabling other features appeared before the permission request, the authority said, and did not adequately explain that gallery suggestions were included.
The regulator said the feature was active by default. It also said that granting the permission allowed the app to read the device’s entire photo archive, usually on an ongoing basis. The Garante’s account describes the permission’s reach; the published material does not establish exactly which photos were used in each instance.
The authority said its investigation began in July 2025, following a report by the Bolzano Consumer Protection Center, and included technical analysis. It ordered Meta to obtain separate, specific consent and keep the feature off by default within 60 days, including for people who had already granted the broader permission. Meta must report within 30 days on steps it has begun and within 90 days on steps completed. The full decision had not appeared on the Garante’s website as of 21:27 UTC on November 14.
Consent Rules Reach Phone Galleries
The decision puts a substantial penalty behind the question of whether a user has meaningfully agreed to an app’s access to personal files. The Garante said Italy’s Privacy Code, implementing the EU ePrivacy Directive, protects a smartphone as part of a person’s private sphere and requires free, informed consent for access to information on it.
The Garante said about 20 million Android users in Italy were involved. It described the fine as around 0.47% of Meta group global revenue. Those figures indicate the scale the regulator attributes to the case; they do not show how many users actively used the suggestions or how many individual images were accessed.
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How Facebook Requested Gallery Access
Facebook’s gallery suggestions appeared while people browsed the app, offering photos and videos from their devices that they could post. The dispute, as described by the Garante, centers on the permission flow: one broad app permission, a generic notice, and a feature enabled by default. The authority said this did not tell users clearly enough about the particular use of their gallery.
The investigation followed a July 2025 report from the Bolzano Consumer Protection Center. The Garante said it carried out technical analysis before issuing its November 14 decision. The source material describes the matter as a consent and access case; it does not report a data breach or hacking incident.
The Garante characterized the penalty as about 0.47% of group global revenue. For historical scale, the same authority fined Facebook €1 million in 2019 in the Cambridge Analytica case under Italy’s former privacy code. The present case involves a different feature and legal basis, so the two fines do not by themselves establish a direct measure of comparable conduct.
Appeal and AI Use Remain Open
Meta’s appeal means the decision may be contested, but the available source material does not give a filing date, grounds for appeal or expected timetable. The full written decision was not yet published on the Garante’s website at the time noted in the source, so its complete reasoning and any further details could not be checked there.
The case did not decide whether gallery content was used to train artificial intelligence systems. Meta denies such use, according to the source material. A separate feature launched in 2026 that processes gallery content in the cloud may be assessed separately; no finding about that feature is reported here.
The Garante’s statements about the permission describe what it could allow, including access to the entire archive. The available account does not say how many individual files were read, what data was retained, or whether every affected user’s gallery was accessed in the same way.
Meta Faces Compliance Deadlines
Meta is expected to appeal the fine. Separately, the Garante’s order sets deadlines for changes and reports: within 30 days, Meta must tell the regulator what it has started; within 60 days, it must make the feature opt-in through separate, specific consent and keep it off by default, including for users who previously granted the broader permission; within 90 days, it must report what it has done.
The published source material does not specify when the appeal will be filed or resolved. Any further assessment of the 2026 cloud-processing feature would be separate from this decision.
Key Questions
What did Italy fine Meta for?
The Garante fined Meta Platforms Ireland €805 million over Facebook’s Android feature that suggests photos and videos from a user’s phone gallery. It said the feature lacked specific, informed consent and was on by default.
What changes did the regulator order?
The Garante ordered Meta to keep the feature off by default and obtain separate, specific consent within 60 days. The requirement also applies to people who had already granted the broader app permission.
Will Meta appeal the fine?
Yes. A Meta spokesperson said the company would appeal and called the fine “disproportionate,” according to Reuters. The source material does not provide the appeal’s filing date or grounds.
Did the decision find that Meta used photos to train AI?
No. The case did not decide whether gallery content was used for AI training. Meta denies such use, and the source says a separate cloud-processing feature launched in 2026 may be assessed separately.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
