Only logged-in people to use Facebook in Belgium

Only logged-in users would be able to view their Facebook pages in Belgium after the privacy watchdog accused the social networking site of violating the European Union law by tracking non-users through persistent cookies without their consent, media reports said.

Facebook's ongoing legal predicament in Belgium is not concerned with how it treats users, though, but how it tracks any visitor to its pages, logged-in or not, Engadgeta reported.

Following compliance demands made by Belgium's Privacy Protection Commission, a Belgian court demanded Facebook stop the practice, and pre-empting the order coming through this week, the website has gone into lockdown.

According to BBC, Facebook intends to contest the ruling but will comply with the order for the time being.

By shutting visitors out of Facebook, they will no longer be darted with trackers, and "existing cookies for such individuals will be deleted where possible."