Italy hits Meta with €805m fine over Facebook photo access

Italy's Data Protection Authority has fined Meta €805m (£670; $887m) for pulling photos off Android users' phones without their specific consent. The regulator said the company failed to properly tell around 20 million smartphone users that a Facebook app feature could reach their photos and videos. It's one of the biggest penalties an Italian authority has ever handed a tech giant.

The feature in question suggests images from a phone's gallery as ideas for posts. Facebook asked for access to those galleries through a single app-wide authorisation, and according to the regulator, the notice shown beforehand never made clear it would also let Facebook generate post suggestions from what was in there. Meta has 60 days to turn the feature off by default and seek users' consent separately.

In setting the fine, the watchdog pointed to the sheer scale of the impact — the high number of people affected — and noted the practice is still ongoing for users who haven't updated the app and for those who already opted into the system. It also cited Meta's lack of co-operation during the case. The BBC has asked Meta for comment.

Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, was hit with its largest fine ever just last month. A US judge in New Mexico ordered the company to pay $25bn (£18.6bn) after finding it had spent years lying to the public about how it handled Facebook user data.