World

Italy issues whopping fine to Meta over data access

By AAP Newswire

Nov 15, 2026

Italy issues whopping fine to Meta over data access — Italy's data protection agency says Meta accessed Android users' photos and videos without consent. -AP

Italy's data protection ‌agency says it has fined Meta Platforms after finding the company had accessed Android users' ‌photographs and videos without obtaining their consent or informing them.

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They are demanding Meta pays €805 million ($A1.3 billion) in compensation.

Meta had access to Android users' photos and videos through a Facebook app feature that ‌suggested content ‌from users' ⁠personal galleries that they could post, the authority said in a statement

Meta has 60 days to disable the feature by default and seek users' consent separately, it added

Meta was ⁠not immediately available ‌for comment

The investigation, which began in 2025, did not cover ‌the possible use of the content to train artificial intelligence models, a practice Meta denied, the authority said

It added that it reserved the right to assess separately a new feature, ‌launched in 2026, that allows content from users' galleries to be processed in the cloud

The fine is equivalent to about 0.47 per cent of the group's global revenue, the authority said