Meta Fined Over €800 Million
Odaily reports: Italy's data protection authority announced on the 14th that it has fined Meta's Irish subsidiary €805 million (approximately $887 million) for accessing mobile photo gallery information without Android users' consent.
The announcement stated that Meta's Irish company accessed photos, videos, and related metadata stored on Italian users' smartphones through the Facebook app on Android devices without obtaining users' specific consent in advance and without providing adequate notice to users.
According to the announcement, the penalty concerns a feature called "accessing recommendations from the photo gallery while browsing Facebook." Available since 2023, this feature allows the app to select photos and videos from the phone's gallery as content suggestions for users to post while browsing Facebook.
The announcement said the Italian data protection authority determined the fine amount based on multiple factors, including the large number of affected individuals in the case and the company's low level of cooperation during the investigation.
Under the penalty decision, the company must set the feature to default-off within 60 days, including for users who had previously authorized the app to access their phone's photo gallery. Additionally, the company must obtain user consent through a separate and explicit method, and clearly explain to users the purpose of the feature, the involvement of photo gallery access, and how to disable it. (Xinhua Net)
