Kathmandu. Italy has slapped a fine of about Rs 13,440 crore on social media platform Facebook’s parent company Meta.
This action has been taken for accessing Android users’ photos without their explicit consent. According to Italy’s data protection authority, Meta was able to view users’ photos and videos through the feature in the Facebook app.
The regulator has said that Meta has failed to properly inform about 20 million users. This feature allows Facebook to suggest posts based on photos and videos in users’ phone galleries.
Facebook had asked users for permission to access their entire photo gallery only once through the app. However, it did not explicitly state that this permission would also allow Facebook to suggest posts based on their photos.
Italian regulators have given Meta 60 days to stop the feature from being automatically activated and to get separate permissions from users.
The regulator has said that a large number of people have been affected by this issue. This problem persists in people who have not updated the app or have already authorized this feature. – Agency
