Facebook Continues To Struggle With Europe's Privacy Laws

Social media giant Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has been caught up in a great deal of controversy in Europe over the past year as users complain that the firm's privacy policies don't align with those that govern each EU country. The company has faced accusations that its policies are not sufficient in Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and now France, all of which threaten to significantly change how the site operates.Tracking Web HabitsThe latest accusations come from France in the form of an order from France's Commmission Nationale del l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL), which demand that the firm rework its data collection tactics or pay a series of fines that could total as much as $168,000. One of the CNIL's main complaints is the fact that users who don't have Facebook accounts can still have their online movements tracked by the firm through "like" buttons that are positioned on pages around the web. The order demands that Facebook notify people that their movements could still be tracked regardless of their reluctance to set up an account.\Data StoringFacebook is also dealing with concerns about data laws in the US alongside many of its US-based peers as European regulators have started to tighten the kind of information that can be stored in the US. NSA Contractor Edward Snowden's revelations that the US government was conducting a large-scale surveillance program without the public's knowledge has caused many Europeans to worry about their personal data being stored in the US. The CNIL says that Facebook may not send user data to be stored in the US any longer, something that could have a major impact on how the firm is run.