Italy fines Meta $887 million over Android users’ data access

MILAN, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Italy’s data protection agency said on Saturday it had fined Meta Platforms €805 million ($887 million) after finding the company had accessed Android users’ photographs and videos without obtaining their consent or informing them.

• Meta had access to Android users’ photos and videos through a Facebook app feature that suggested content from users’ personal galleries that they could post, the authority said in a statement

• Meta has 60 days to disable the feature by default and seek users’ consent separately, it added

• Meta was not immediately available for comment

• The investigation, which began in 2025, did not cover the possible use of the content to train artificial intelligence models, a practice Meta denied, the authority said

• It added that it reserved the right to assess separately a new feature, launched in 2026, that allows content from users’ galleries to be processed in the cloud

• The fine is equivalent to about 0.47% of the group’s global revenue, the authority said

($1 = 0.9074 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, writing by Gianluca Semeraro; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)