Facebook on Android was looking through your photo gallery. Italy just fined Meta 805 million euros for it

Since 2023, the Facebook app for Android has had a feature that offers up photos and videos from your phone's gallery as things you might want to post. Plenty of people never noticed it. Italy's data protection authority did, and on Saturday it fined Meta 805 million euros, roughly 0.47% of the company's global turnover.

The Garante found that the option, called "Get suggestions from gallery when browsing Facebook", was on by default and let the app read photos, videos and their metadata without specific consent. Gallery access was granted through a single permission covering the whole app and several unrelated functions, after a prompt the regulator called vague. It counted about 20 million Android users in Italy and said the breach is still going on for people who haven't updated the app or who already granted access. The case started with a complaint from a Bolzano consumer group in July 2025. It doesn't concern AI training, which Meta denies, though the Garante may look separately at a newer feature launched this year that processes gallery content in the cloud.

Meta calls the fine disproportionate and says it will appeal, adding that the feature only works once you've given permission on your device. Within 60 days it must switch the feature off by default, even for people who already said yes, and ask for consent on its own. You don't have to wait. In the Facebook app's settings, turn off gallery suggestions; then, in Android's Settings under Apps, open Facebook's permissions and look at Photos and videos. If you only ever post the odd picture, choosing selected photos or not allowing access at all costs you very little.

Tendvane can't change settings on your phone, but on your PC its Privacy & accounts check gives you the same kind of periodic look at how your sign-in accounts are set up.