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Italy fines Meta $880m over photo privacy
Al Jazeera • • world
Key Points:
- Italian data privacy authority Garante fined Meta 805 million euros ($887 million) for accessing photos, videos, and metadata on Italian users' Android smartphones without explicit consent.
- The violation centers on Facebook's "Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook" feature, which was enabled by default and did not provide clear information for users to give informed consent.
- The fine is the largest ever imposed by the Italian regulator and affects an estimated 20 million Italian Android users, with the penalty amounting to approximately 0.47% of Meta’s global turnover.
- Garante criticized Meta for a lack of cooperation and referenced a previous 2019 violation as a factor in the decision; Meta has not commented publicly but retains the right to appeal.
- The investigation did not cover whether the accessed content was used to train artificial intelligence, a claim Meta denies.
