Italy fines Meta €805 million over Facebook gallery consent

Italy’s privacy regulator announced an €805 million fine against Meta on November 14 over consent for Facebook’s access to Android photo galleries. Reuters reported that Meta was not immediately available for comment. The case concerns a suggestion feature available since 2023, which proposes photographs and videos from a phone for posting while someone browses Facebook. It puts an everyday permission screen at the centre of a substantial enforcement action.

According to the Garante’s announcement, multiple purposes shared a general permission request, the explanation was unclear, and suggestions were enabled by default. Meta has 60 days to switch the feature off by default and obtain separate consent, including from existing permission holders. Think of handing a shop assistant one photograph to print: that interaction leaves a different expectation from inviting the assistant to browse an album and pick the next image. The interface must make the intended job understandable before permission is given.

Android already offers a narrower technical route. Google’s developer documentation describes a system photo picker that gives an app access to selected images and videos rather than the whole library. Eligible cloud libraries can appear in that selection interface too. The useful analogy is a service window: a person can browse their own papers behind it, then pass through only the chosen documents. File access and product purpose are separate questions. Limiting what an app can read helps with the first; explaining what it intends to do addresses the second.

A newer product needs to be kept distinct. Meta’s April 2026 announcement for the European Union and United Kingdom describes opt-in suggestions, edits and collages, initially visible only to the user and switchable off. Meta says camera-roll media is not used for advertising targeting, and describes AI-improvement exceptions involving publication or sharing through AI features. The Garante says this proceeding did not examine AI training, which Meta denies, and reserves separate assessment of the 2026 cloud feature.

For product teams, the practical lesson is to avoid compressing several decisions into an unexplained “allow” button. Reading files, choosing pictures automatically, processing content remotely and publishing it create different expectations. Explaining each step lets someone decide which convenience is worth which access. The next useful thing to watch is how Facebook presents its gallery-suggestion controls and explanations, so that people can make that choice without having to translate permission terminology first.

Original publication: Garante announcement dated November 14, 2026; Reuters, November 14, 2026, 21:07 Beijing time / 8:07 AM EST.