The Belgian Data Observatory issued new recommendations to Facebook, inviting the company to more clearly explain the practice of collecting Internet users data through site elements with invisible pixel tracking.
The country is reportedly following the line of France and the European Commission to take various actions against Facebook, which are aimed at fines, for privacy violations.
The tracking pixel is not even visible icon neither one cookie. It comes in the form of a line of code that loads in the background of the website as users visit the social network with the program browsing that they choose. The code creates a tiny image the size of a pixel, the smallest visual element on a digital display that is nearly invisible to the human eye.
Facebook has long allowed its advertisers to create targeted marketing using invisible tracking pixels to measure the number of Facebook users who see their ads on the social network, track sales conversions, and get their navigation history.
Once the pixel is loaded in a browser, it can send the user's IP address and web activity to the server of the page containing the ad. In addition to Facebook, the icondata tracking are commonly used in web analytics to implement targeted advertising.
The Belgian regulator has expressed concern that Facebook receives too much personal data for targeted advertising. He also pointed out that Facebook over-monitors Internet users without providing them with sufficient checks in the form of consent.
The Dutch regulator announced earlier that Facebook breached Dutch privacy law for the same reasons. However, instead of imposing a fine, he worked with Facebook to take some corrective action. These measures appear to have been implemented by the social network but do not cover all the concerns of the regulator.
The French data regulator had imposed a fine on Facebook of EUR 150.000 for violating data protection rules and chose not to work with Facebook to implement any changes.
Europe's controversy with Facebok does not seem to stop there. The European Commission also imposed a fine of € 110 for misleading operations on how the company combines WhatsApp users' data with Facebook accounts to create targeted ads.
Belgium has not yet imposed a fine on Facebook. The Belgian regulator will examine the legality of all Facebook data tracking mechanisms before allowing Facebook's legal service to be heard at the end of this year.
