The American tech giant Meta, Facebook 's parent company , was fined on Saturday, November 14, 2026, by the Italian data protection authority. The reason: accessing photos and videos stored on the smartphones of millions of Android users without their explicit consent. The €805 million fine has reignited questions about privacy protection and the practices of major digital platforms.
Meta is facing another major financial penalty in Europe . The Italian data protection authority, known as Garante, has announced an €805 million fine against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited. According to the regulator, the Facebook app for Android allowed access to photos, videos, and metadata stored on the phones of its Italian users without obtaining sufficiently specific permission. This practice is estimated to have affected approximately 20 million people in the country.
At the heart of this case is a feature introduced in 2023 that allowed Facebook to suggest photos and videos from a user's phone's gallery to encourage them to be posted on the social network. This feature required access to the user's personal files to function. However, according to investigations conducted by Italian authorities, Meta requested general permission for several features of its application without clearly explaining that gallery content could be accessed to generate these suggestions.
A feature activated without sufficiently informed consent
The investigation, opened in July 2025 following a report from a consumer protection association in Bolzano, revealed several malfunctions. In particular, the authorization to access photographs was accompanied by generic information inviting users to activate additional features. This wording was deemed insufficient to allow them to understand precisely how their personal content could be used. Investigators also noted that the suggestion feature was enabled by default, reinforcing concerns about the system's transparency.
The Italian regulator considers these practices to be in violation of Article 122 of the Italian Privacy Code, which transposes European provisions relating to the confidentiality of electronic communications. This regulation notably requires free and informed consent for accessing information stored on personal devices. The authority reiterates that smartphones contain a particularly significant portion of their owners' private lives and that accessing this data requires specific safeguards, regardless of whether harm has been proven.
Meta has 60 days to modify its application
Beyond the financial penalty, Italian authorities are imposing several changes on Meta. The company has 60 days to implement a separate consent request, allowing users to understand precisely why Facebook wants access to their gallery. The feature must also be disabled by default, including for those who previously granted general permission. If the company fails to comply, it will no longer be able to be activated for users who have not given valid consent.
The size of the fine is largely due to the scale and duration of the observed practices. The Italian authority believes that the violations continued for some users, particularly those who had not installed the latest app updates. It also cited Meta's insufficient cooperation during the investigation and the existence of a regulatory precedent dating back to 2019. The penalty represents approximately 0,47% of the American group's global revenue, making it a particularly significant decision for the European digital sector.
A new case that raises questions about the use of personal data
This conviction comes amid increased scrutiny of the practices of major technology companies. For several years, European authorities have been seeking to strengthen control over personal data collected by social networks, particularly when users lack sufficiently clear information about how their data is used. The issue is especially sensitive for private photographs and videos, which may contain personal information about users, as well as their loved ones and their everyday environment.
The Italian authority clarified, however, that its investigation did not concern the potential use of the photographs to train artificial intelligence models, a practice that Meta disputes in this case. The regulator nevertheless reserves the right to separately examine another feature launched in 2026, enabling the processing of photographic content in the cloud. Meta retains the right to appeal the penalty before the competent courts. Beyond the €805 million fine, this case serves as a reminder that access to the private content of a smartphone cannot rely on simple blanket authorization when users are not clearly informed of its use.
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