Facebook will appeal a Belgium court's decision ordering the social network giant to stop tracking Internet users, especially those who do not have an account on the website.

The judge gave Facebook 48 hours to abide by the ruling, or the company could end up facing fines as much as $269,000 per day.

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"We've used the Datr cookie for more than five years to keep Facebook secure for 1.5 billion people around the world. We will appeal this decision and are working to minimize any disruption to people's access to Facebook in Belgium," a Facebook spokesperson told the BBC.

The case was filed by Belgium's privacy watchdog group on claims that Facebook indiscriminately tracks Internet users once they visited its website or clicked on the "share" or "like" button, according to Reuters.

What enrages the group is the fact that Facebook tracks these online users even though they are not registered user of the social networking website.

Cookies such as datr, which is used by Facebook, are simple files that track websites that users have accessed. Cookies are capable of tracking user activities such as the duration of their stay on a specific website, and the actions they take when they are on the website.

On its defense, Facebook said that cookies only identify the types of browsers used by those who access its website. The social network giant added that cookies also help to distinguish legitimate users from those with malicious intensions.

TagsOnline privacy, online security, Belgium