In the European Union, Facebook is not only answerable to Ireland, where the tech giant’s European headquarters are located, says the chief adviser to the European Court of Justice.
Privacy watchdogs from other EU countries can also tackle Facebook, he says.
The Luxembourg court has to rule on a Belgian lawsuit against Facebook. The Belgian counterpart of the Dutch Data Protection Authority wants the social network to stop tracking the surfing behaviour of non-users.
The advocate general of the European court disagrees with Facebook.
Judges from the other Member States are also allowed to consider Facebook’s trade and walk in some cases, he believes, even though Ireland is in principle in the lead. This is only possible if it concerns “cross-border” cases and Ireland, for example, does not deal with it.
The advice of the advocate general usually weighs heavily, although the court does not always follow it.