Beiruting News

Belgium's Privacy Commission is to take Facebook to court over what it says is illegal tracking of the social network's users.

The case follows a report earlier where the commission said that Facebook was trampling on privacy laws. The commission said at the time that it couldn't fine Facebook, but threatened that it would pursue legal action if the site didn't respond adequately to its report - and it has now begun those proceedings.

The commission now hopes that a judge will force Facebook to comply with its recommendations. The case will be heard in a Belgian court on Thursday.

The Belgian watchdogs concerns are especially related to "the way the social network secretly tracks members but also non-members and processes data is flagrant", Willem Debeuckelaere, chairman of the Belgian Privacy Commission, told De Morgen.

"Even people who specifically indicate that they don't want to be followed are still followed," he said. He said that Facebook stored information on what sites people visit without them knowing.

Facebook called the proceedings "theatrical" and said that they were unexpected.