Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited 805 million euros on November 14, 2026. The regulator says the Facebook app for Android accessed photos, videos and their metadata on users’ phones without specific consent and without adequate information. Meta says it will appeal. Here is what the Garante found, what it ordered Meta to change within 60 days, how Meta has responded, and how to check which apps can read your photos on Android.
Why did Italy fine Meta 805 million euros?
According to the Garante’s press release of November 14, the case concerns a Facebook feature called “Ottieni suggerimenti dalla galleria quando navighi su Facebook” (get suggestions from your gallery while you browse Facebook), available since 2023. While you browse, it proposes photos and videos from the phone’s gallery for you to post.
The authority’s main findings:
- Gallery access was requested through one permission covering the whole app and several features with different purposes.
- That permission came after a generic prompt about enabling “other functions”, which did not make clear that gallery suggestions were included.
- The suggestions feature was switched on by default.
- A fully granted photo permission lets an app read the whole photo library, usually on a permanent basis, and neither the user nor the regulator can check which data is actually used.
The legal basis is Article 122 of Italy’s Privacy Code, which implements the EU ePrivacy Directive. The Garante treats a smartphone as part of a person’s private sphere, so any access to information on it needs free and informed consent, whether or not the data is transmitted or anyone is harmed. It also rejected Meta’s argument that the Irish regulator should handle the case, because the ePrivacy rules have no one-stop-shop mechanism.
How was the amount decided?
The fine equals about 0.47% of Meta’s worldwide turnover, according to the Garante, and Al Jazeera reports it is the largest the Italian regulator has issued. Aggravating factors listed by the authority were:
- about 20 million Android users in Italy affected;
- a violation still continuing for people who have not updated the app or who already granted the permission;
- a 2019 decision against the company;
- limited cooperation during the investigation.
Changes Meta made after the complaint counted in its favor, but the Garante judged them late and limited to users who update the app. The investigation began in July 2025 after a complaint from the Bolzano consumer group Centro Tutela Consumatori Utenti.
What must Meta change within 60 days?
- Ask for consent through a separate, specific request for this feature, explaining its purpose, how it relates to gallery access and how to turn it off.
- Keep the feature off by default, including for users who already allowed gallery access to the app.
- If the deadline passes without compliance, the feature may not be switched on for anyone without valid consent.
Meta must also tell the Garante within 30 days what it has started, and within 90 days what measures it has adopted. The proceeding did not look at whether gallery content was used to train AI, which Meta denies. The Garante said it may examine separately a newer feature launched in 2026 that processes gallery content in the cloud.
What has Meta said?
Meta has said it will appeal. As reported by The Hacker News, the company called the fine “disproportionate” and said the feature works only after users grant permission on their device, which they can change at any time in settings. Al Jazeera’s report noted that Meta had not publicly commented when it was published, so check the company’s own newsroom for any fuller statement. An appeal does not by itself settle the legal question, and the outcome is not known.
How do you check Facebook’s photo access on Android?
The Garante’s concern is the app-wide photo permission, and that one is controlled by Android, not by Facebook. Google’s Android Help page on app permissions gives two routes. Menu names can differ slightly by phone maker and Android version.
For one app:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Apps, then select Facebook (tap See all apps first if you cannot find it).
- Tap Permissions.
- Tap the photos and videos permission, then choose Allow or Don’t allow.
By permission type:
- Open Settings and go to Security & Privacy, then Privacy, then Permission manager.
- Tap Photos and videos to see every app that has it.
- Tap an app and choose its permission setting.
Facebook also has its own setting for the suggestions. Meta’s Help Center covers it in the article Enable or disable camera roll suggestions when browsing Facebook; it says the feature is not available on computers. Follow that article for the in-app switch, because menu labels can change between app versions.
Turning the system permission off may stop Facebook’s photo picker and camera roll suggestions from working. This is general information, and the Garante’s order applies to users in Italy; Meta has not said how it will change the app elsewhere.
What is still unknown?
- Whether Meta’s appeal will pause any part of the order.
- Whether the new consent screen will be shown outside Italy.
- Whether the Garante will open a separate case on the 2026 cloud-processing feature.
Meta’s earlier data-use dispute is covered in Meta Pauses Business Terms That Would Let It Scrape Advertiser Websites.
Sources: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali press release, November 14, 2026; Al Jazeera, November 14, 2026; The Hacker News, November 2026; Android Help, Google; Facebook Help Center. Bloomberg and the BBC also reported the fine; we did not rely on their text.
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