BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – A civil court in Belgium on Monday ordered the social networking giant Facebook to stop tracking Internet users who do not have a Facebook account within 48 hours.
"Facebook has 48 hours to comply. Otherwise, it will be subject to a fine of 250,000 euros [$269,000] per day," the Belgian Le Soir daily cited the court's ruling as saying.
In June, the Belgian Privacy Commission (BPC) filed a lawsuit against the popular social network for surveillance practices akin to those of the US National Security Agency (NSA).
A BPC survey published earlier this year demonstrated Facebook tracking logged-out users and non-users who visited sites that use plugins such as the "like" button. The survey contended that such tracking is conducted without explicit consent and is out of line with Belgian and European privacy laws.
Facebook has repeatedly rejected the accusations and specifically BPC’s report as baseless.
