Belgium's data watchdog issued new recommendations to Facebook, calling on the company to more clearly explain its practice of collecting internet user data through website elements with invisible tracking pixels.
The country is reportedly following the line of France and the European Commission on the λήψη various actions against Facebook, aimed at fines, for violations of privacy.
The tracking pixel is neither a visible icon nor a cookie. It comes in the form of a line code που φορτώνεται στο παρασκήνιο της ιστοσελίδας, καθώς οι χρήστες επισκέπτονται το κοινωνικό δίκτυο με το πρόγραμμα tourς που επιλέγουν. Ο κώδικας δημιουργεί μια μικροσκοπική εικόνα μεγέθους ενός εικονοστοιχείου ή pixel, του smallery optical element on a digital display that is almost invisible to the human eye.
Facebook has long allowed its advertisers to create targeting marketing using invisible tracking pixels to count the number of Facebook users who see their ads on the social network, track sales conversions and obtain browsing history.
Once the pixel is loaded into a browser, it can send the address ip of the user and his activity on the web, to the server of the page containing the ad. In addition to Facebook, tracking pixels are commonly used in web analytics to implement targeted advertising.
The Belgian regulator expressed concern that Facebook is receiving too much personal data for targeted advertising. He also pointed out that Facebook monitors Internet users too much without providing them with adequate controls 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 fight with Facebook doesn't seem to stop there. The European Commission also imposed a fine of €110 million for misleading functions 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.