Belgian Privacy Commission Obtains Injunction Against Facebook’s Use of Cookie for Non-Registered Users

• Thibaut D’hulst
• Melody Moodley

On 9. November 2015, the President of the Court of First Instance of Brussels (the “Court”) issued a cease and desist order against Facebook Inc., Facebook Belgium SPRL and Facebook Ireland Limited (“Facebook”) in summary proceedings brought by the Belgian Privacy Commission (Commissie voor de bescherming van de persoonlijke levenssfeer/Commission de la protection de la vie privée – the “Privacy Commission”). The Privacy Commission had initiated the summary proceedings, as well as proceedings on the merits which are still ongoing, after consulting with Facebook on the social network’s new privacy policy. The Court’s decision follows the global revision of the terms of use of Facebook. The new terms explain how Facebook processes the information which it receives and how it uses social plug-ins and cookies. It also sets out the rights of Facebook users.