Italy Fines Meta €805 Million Over Facebook's Access to Android Camera Rolls

Quick summary: Italy just dropped one of its biggest tech fines ever on Meta. The Italian Data Protection Authority, the Garante, announced on November 14 that it fined Meta Platforms Ireland Limited €805 million (about $887 million) over a Facebook feature on Android that suggested photos and videos from your camera roll. The Garante says the feature was on by default, used a broad, app-wide permission, and didn’t clearly tell about 20 million Android users in Italy what they were agreeing to, per the official ruling. Meta says it will appeal.

Key takeaways

• The feature, called “Get suggestions from your gallery when browsing Facebook” (in Italian, “Ottieni suggerimenti dalla galleria quando navighi su Facebook”), has been in the Facebook Android app since 2023. It pops up photos and videos from your phone as ideas to post.
• The Garante says Facebook asked for gallery access with one permission that covered multiple features, after a generic prompt about “enabling other functions.” If you granted it, the app could read your entire photo library, usually permanently.
• Meta has 60 days to turn the feature off by default, including for people who already granted the permission, and to ask for separate, specific consent.
• A Meta spokesperson told CNBC and the BBC the company “strongly disagree[s]” and called the fine “disproportionate.”
• The investigation did not cover whether the photos were used to train AI. Meta denies that. The Garante says it may look separately at a 2026 feature that processes gallery content in the cloud.

What the Garante found

The case started in July 2025 after a complaint from the Centro Tutela Consumatori Utenti in Bolzano, and the Garante ran its own technical analysis.

The authority’s argument is pretty simple: your phone is part of your private life. Under Article 122 of Italy’s privacy code, which implements the EU’s ePrivacy rules, accessing information on it requires free, informed consent, even if the data isn’t sent anywhere and even if you weren’t harmed. The Garante also rejected Meta’s claim that Ireland should have handled the case, saying ePrivacy doesn’t use the “one-stop-shop” system that usually applies to GDPR.

When it set the size of the fine, the Garante listed:

• About 20 million Android users in Italy
• The violation is still going for people who haven’t updated the app, and for people who already granted the permission
• A previous 2019 decision against the company
• “Little cooperation” during the investigation

It counted later changes as a mitigating factor, but said those were late and only helped people who updated the app. The fine is about 0.47% of Meta’s worldwide revenue, the Garante said.

What Meta says

A Meta spokesperson told CNBC:

“This is a simple feature that helps people share photos and videos on Facebook. Users must grant permission on their device before the feature can operate, and they can change that permission at any time in their settings.”

The BBC’s version of the same statement is almost identical, and adds that Meta “strongly disagree[s] with the [regulator’s] assessment of the facts, its application of the law, and the disproportionate level of the fine.” Meta plans to appeal.

What Meta has to do next

The Garante’s order, in plain English:

• Ask for separate, specific consent for this feature, and clearly explain what it does, that it accesses your gallery, and how to turn it off.
• Keep the feature off by default, even for people who already said yes under the old permission.
• If Meta misses the 60-day deadline, it can’t turn the feature on for anyone who hasn’t given valid consent.
• Meta has 30 days to tell the Garante what it’s started doing, and 90 days to report the measures it actually put in place.

What you can do right now

This ruling is about users in Italy, but the same Facebook Android feature exists in other countries. If you don’t want Facebook browsing your camera roll, you can lock it down on the phone itself. Google’s official guide to changing app permissions is the path I trust most:

1. Open Settings on your Android phone.
2. Tap Apps. If you don’t see Facebook yet, tap See all apps.
3. Tap Facebook.
4. Tap Permissions, then Photos and videos (the exact name can vary a little by phone and Android version).
5. Choose Don’t allow, or, if your phone offers it, limit access to only the photos and videos you pick.

What you should see: Facebook can no longer read your full gallery in the background. When you go to attach a photo yourself, Android can still open the system picker so you choose what to share.

You can also look inside the Facebook app for a Camera roll sharing suggestions setting. Consumer reports, including Which?, have described a path like Menu > Settings & privacy > Settings > Camera roll sharing suggestions. Facebook rolls out setting names gradually, so yours may look a little different. If you see switches for suggestions while browsing or custom suggestions from your camera roll, turn them off.

My take

An €805 million fine gets headlines, and it should. The more useful part for the rest of us is the reminder that “allow photos” on Android isn’t always just “let me pick a picture for this one post.” If a permission is app-wide and left on, the app can keep looking at your whole library. That’s why I always tell people: if you don’t need Facebook in your camera roll, take the permission away at the system level.

This also isn’t the end of the story. The Garante specifically left the door open on that newer cloud processing gallery feature from 2026. I’ll be watching that one.

Shopping for a new Android phone? The Pixel 10 Pro, Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 8 are in the shop box below.

Sources: Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (November 14, 2026); CNBC; BBC; AP.