Facebook now requires users in Belgium to log in to their account to view any content on the site.
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We expected to address the Privacy Commission’s concerns in ways that would allow us to use security cookies that protected Belgian citizens from more than 33,000 takeover attempts in the last month.
The decision came after the social network's unsuccessful attempts to reach an agreement with Belgium after it was sued by the latter for tracking users when they visited some of its pages or clicked Like or Share, even if they were not registered users. Belgians now have to log in to view some content and if they don't have an account, create one.
For users who have an account, cookies. However, Facebook expects Belgian authorities to require other websites not to track their unregistered users.
The famous social network also states that the controls and procedures put in place for this cookie have been carefully inspected and approved by the Irish Data Commissioner on multiple occasions. In October, a European Union ruling invalidated a 15-year-old agreement between European countries and American companies that involved the transfer of personal data to data centers in the United States.
Since the Belgian decision is based on European law and not just Belgian law, there is a high probability that other European countries will follow Belgium's example. This in turn causes an increased risk of account hacking and less protected content for Facebook users. It will also cause complaints from some, for example, business owners who will no longer be able to see their business pages to all Internet users.
