---
title: "Italy fines Meta $887 million for reading 20 million users' photo galleries, $25.9 billion billed in a month"
description: "The Garante's €805 million penalty lands four weeks after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion, putting the company's contested privacy bills at $25.9 billion in a month, about 43 percent of a year's profit. Meta's answer to both is the same word: appeal."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Policy & Labor"
published: 2026-11-15T00:41:21.709Z
modified: 2026-11-15T00:41:21.709Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/italy-fines-meta-887-million-for-reading-20-million-users-photo-galleries-25-9-billion-billed-in-a-month
language: en
keywords: "Meta, Privacy, GDPR, Regulation, Courts"
---

# Italy fines Meta $887 million for reading 20 million users' photo galleries, $25.9 billion billed in a month

> The Garante's €805 million penalty lands four weeks after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion, putting the company's contested privacy bills at $25.9 billion in a month, about 43 percent of a year's profit. Meta's answer to both is the same word: appeal.

Italy's data protection authority, the Garante, [fined Meta €805 million ($887 million)](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/14/italy-fines-meta-887-million-over-android-users-data-access.html) on November 14, 2026, for reading the photo galleries of Android users without proper consent [1][2][5]. The Facebook app's gallery-suggestions feature, launched in 2023, drew on photos, videos and metadata from the phones of about 20 million Italian users after a single blanket authorization, and the setting was switched on by default [1][2][5].

The Garante, which also cited [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta)'s "lack of cooperation" [2], gave the company 60 days to turn the feature off by default and request consent separately [1][5]. Meta "strongly disagrees," calls the fine "disproportionate," and will appeal [1][2].

## Four weeks, $25.9 billion in contested penalties

The bill stacks. On October 21, New Mexico First Judicial District Judge Francis Mathew [ordered Meta to pay $25 billion](https://www.courthousenews.com/new-mexico-judge-orders-meta-to-pay-25-billion-over-data-privacy/) after a jury found more than 43 million violations of the state's consumer protection law [3][4]. He found the law warranted more than $219 billion, then reduced the figure to $25 billion without explaining the calculation [3].

Meta slammed the ruling as a "tax" on freedom of expression [2]. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called it one of the largest, if not the largest, [single-state verdicts against the company](https://theinference.org/article/meta-s-25-billion-fine-hits-the-books-long-before-it-leaves-the-bank) in American history, and state law directs the money to New Mexico's school system [4].

## The appeal route has cut these bills before

Add Italy's $887 million and Meta is contesting $25.9 billion in four weeks, about 43 percent of the $60.5 billion it earned in 2025 on $201 billion of revenue [6]. In four weeks, regulators have billed Meta more than it earns in five months.

*Chart: **Contested penalties equal 43% of a year's Meta profit** Column chart comparing Meta's 2025 revenue of $201 billion and 2025 net income of $60.5 billion with the $25.9 billion in penalties it is contesting.*

*Meta's 2025 revenue and net income beside the penalties it is contesting, in billions of US dollars. Sources: Meta Platforms SEC filings; CNBC; Courthouse News Service. [1][3][6]*

Appeal is the established route. Italy's €1.1 billion competition fine on [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon) in 2021 [came down to €752 million on appeal](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/italy-fines-meta-880-mn-201258052.html) [2], and Meta's two biggest privacy bills to date, the Federal Trade Commission's $5 billion settlement in 2019 and Ireland's record €1.2 billion fine in 2023 under the GDPR, the European Union's privacy law, neither visibly slowed the business [3][8].

*Chart: **New Mexico's $25 billion order is 28 times the fine Italy just handed Meta** Bar chart ranking Meta's largest privacy and consumer penalties: New Mexico's $25 billion October 2026 order towers over the FTC's $5 billion 2019 settlement, Ireland's €1.2 billion 2023 GDPR fine, Italy's $887 million November 2026 fine and a $567 million New Mexico teen mental health fund.*

*Civil penalties and settlements levied on Meta, in billions of US dollars. Ireland's 2023 fine was €1.2 billion, converted here at about $1.3. Sources: CNBC, Courthouse News, Reuters, Wikipedia. [1][3][4][8]*

## Priced so far as noise

Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson, gives the market's answer: the company "is worth nearly two trillion dollars, and will likely continue to appeal these cases and drag them out," which makes the current set of cases "unlikely to cause a material impact to Meta's value" [4]. The shares closed Friday up 2.15 percent [7], three weeks after the New Mexico order landed; Monday's open is the first session that can price Italy's number.

The probe did not cover AI training, a use Meta denies [1]; the Garante reserved a separate assessment of a 2026 feature that processes galleries in the cloud [1]. Meta's [AI business, which now sells model access by the token](https://theinference.org/article/the-man-who-scaled-servicenow-to-10-billion-now-sells-meta-s-ai-at-2-per-million-tokens), was left out of this probe and faces a separate one [1]. Two clocks now run for holders: Meta's appeals in two countries, and the Garante's 60-day order, which lands in mid-January [1].

## Takeaway

Meta has 60 days to switch gallery suggestions off by default in Italy and is contesting $25.9 billion in penalties across two countries, with appeals running in both.

## Sources

1. [CNBC, "Italy fines Meta $887 million over Android users' data access", 14 November 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/14/italy-fines-meta-887-million-over-android-users-data-access.html)
2. [AFP via Yahoo Finance, "Italy fines Meta $880 mn over photo privacy: authority", 14 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/italy-fines-meta-880-mn-201258052.html)
3. [Courthouse News Service, "New Mexico judge orders Meta to pay $25 billion over data privacy", 21 October 2026](https://www.courthousenews.com/new-mexico-judge-orders-meta-to-pay-25-billion-over-data-privacy/)
4. [Reuters via MSN, "Meta ordered to pay $25 billion to New Mexico after jury finds company misled consumers about data privacy", 21 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/meta-ordered-to-pay-25-billion-to-new-mexico-after-jury-finds-company-misled-consumers-about-data-privacy/ar-AA2fL8Ol)
5. [Il Post, "Il Garante della Privacy ha multato Meta per 805 milioni di euro", 14 November 2026](https://www.ilpost.it/2026/11/14/garante-privacy-multa-meta-805-euro-facebook-foto-galleria-android/)
6. [Meta Platforms, annual figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 14 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001326801)
7. [CBS/AFP via Yahoo Finance, "Italy fines Meta $880 million over accessing users' photos", 14 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/italy-fines-meta-880-million-183308339.html)
8. [Wikipedia, "Meta Platforms" (record €1.2 billion Irish GDPR fine, 2023), accessed 14 November 2026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_Platforms)


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Italy fines Meta $887 million for reading 20 million users' photo galleries, $25.9 billion billed in a month — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/italy-fines-meta-887-million-for-reading-20-million-users-photo-galleries-25-9-billion-billed-in-a-month