Regulators penalized Meta after finding the company relied on generic app-wide authorizations rather than providing clear notices or straightforward opt-outs for device gallery access. The investigation concluded that approximately 20 million domestic Android users were affected by the ongoing data collection practice. To resolve the compliance failure, Meta must establish a separate, transparent consent prompt specifically detailing how the platform interacts with device photo libraries. Meta has strongly rejected the findings as disproportionate and officially confirmed plans to appeal the enforcement action.
Key points
Relying on broad, app-level authorizations fails to satisfy regulatory standards for scan…: Relying on broad, app-level authorizations fails to satisfy regulatory standards for scanning sensitive personal media libraries.
Enforcement penalties are significantly magnified when digital platforms demonstrate a la…: Enforcement penalties are significantly magnified when digital platforms demonstrate a lack of cooperation during formal regulatory inquiries.
Meta faces an expanding wave of severe financial sanctions worldwide over its handling of…: Meta faces an expanding wave of severe financial sanctions worldwide over its handling of user data and disclosure practices.
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Italy’s data protection agency has fined Facebook parent company Meta €805m ($887m) for accessing users’ photos without their specific consent.
Through the Facebook application for Android devices, Meta accessed photographs, videos and related metadata belonging to Italian users “without obtaining specific consent and without properly informing them”, the authority said in a statement.
Meta said it would appeal the decision. A company spokesperson said “we strongly disagree” with the assessment by the regulators “and the disproportionate level of the fine”.
In late October, authorities in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $25bn for misleading the state’s residents for more than a decade about the use of their data – a record fine for the company, which slammed it as a “tax” on freedom of expression.
Saturday’s latest fine is among the largest an Italian authority has imposed on a tech company.
In 2021, Amazon received a more than €1.1bn fine for breaching competition law.
That sum was subsequently reduced to €752m on appeal.
The Italian penalty imposed on Facebook relates to its gallery suggestions feature, available since 2023, which suggests…
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