ROME FINES META 805 MILLION EUROS

ROME, NOVEMBER 14 /SRNA/ - Italy's data protection authority has fined Meta Platforms 805 million euros for using photos and videos from the galleries of Android device users without their consent.

"Through its Facebook app for Android devices, the company accessed photos, videos and related metadata stored on the smartphones of Italian users without obtaining their specific consent," the authority found.

The authority said the company was able to access users' media through a feature called "Get suggestions from your gallery while browsing Facebook", introduced in 2023.

The authority has given Meta 60 days to introduce a more specific consent request for the feature and explain to users its purpose, what access to their photo galleries entails, and how to disable it, the Baha news portal reported.