The Chair of the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s privacy watchdog, issued formal notice to Facebok to fairly collect data concerning the browsing activity of Internet users who do not have a Facebook account. Facebook must also provide account holders with the means to object to the compiling of their data for advertising purposes, according to CNIL.

Following Facebook statement regarding the amendment of its privacy policy, a working group, composed of the five data protection authorities that decided to investigate the matter (France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and Hamburg), was set up in March 2015. The group's job was to verify that Facebook was acting in compliance with the French Data Protection Act.

However, the group found that Facebook collects, without prior information, data concerning the browsing activity of Internet users who do not have a Facebook account. CNILS says that Facebook does not inform Internet users that it sets a cookie on their terminal when they visit a Facebook public page. This cookie transmits to Facebook information relating to third-party websites offering Facebook plug-ins (e.g. Like button) that are visited by Internet users.

In addition, CNIL said that the social network collects data concerning the sexual orientation and the religious and political views without the explicit consent of account holders.

Facebook also sets cookies that have an advertising purpose without properly informing and obtaining the consent of Internet users, CNIL added.

The Chair of the French data protection authority therefore issued formal notice to Facebook Inc. and Facebook Ireland Limited to comply within three months with the French Data Protection Act.

The Menlo Park, California-based company lost a fight with Belgium’s privacy watchdog after a court in November ordered it to stop storing personal data from non-users.

The European regulators in a joint statement last year urged Facebook to apply the Belgian court ruling from Nov. 9 throughout all of Europe. Facebook is appealing the decision.