The European Commission is planning to halt the way that the social networking site Facebook gathers large amounts data from its users, according to the Telegraph.
The site is said to be allegedly using "sophisticated software" to collect information about users’ political and religious beliefs and sexual preferences and makes them available to advertisers, it was reported.
The newspaper claims that its investigation highlights the extent to which Facebook can "help companies to focus adverts according to the profiles of users", besides personal information.
Viviane Reding European Commission vice-president wants to amend the European data protection laws so that firms that do not follow regulations could face stringent legal action or fine.
Even though most of the information Facebook collects is stored in its data centres in the US, the social networking company may face legal action if it fails to comply with the new legislation.
The new directive, to be introduced in January, will not allow such advertising anymore, unless done so with users consent.
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