Facebook faces fine in Belgium for `illegally’ tracking internet users
17 Feb 2018
A Belgian court has ordered Facebook to stop tracking internet users not registered on its website and said the social network giant would face a fine of up to €100 million ($156 million) if it continued to break privacy laws by tracking people on third-party websites.
The court ordered the California-based social network to delete all personal data obtained "illegally" or face fines of €250,000 a day.
Facebook, however, said it would rather appeal the ruling amid increased efforts in Europe to boost privacy protections in a digital economy dominated by US giants.
Facebook must "stop following and recording internet use by people surfing in Belgium, until it complies with Belgian privacy laws", the Brussels court said.
The verdict follows investigation by Belgium's privacy watchdog which found that Facebook is using pixels and cookies to track a user's internet activity.
The court also directed Facebook to publish the complete 84-page verdict on its own website and excerpts in Belgium's Dutch-language and French-language newspapers.
The court said it "determined that Facebook does not respect Belgian privacy law", basing its ruling on the investigation of Belgium's privacy watchdog CPVP.
In 2015, the watchdog lodged a legal complaint over Facebook's tracking of internet users when they visit pages on the site or click "like" or "share", even if they are not members.