Guide To Writing A Facebook Impressum For 2024

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Guide To Writing A Facebook Impressum For 2024

If you’re running a Facebook page, you’d be familiar with the word ‘Impressum.’ If this word confuses you and you’re unable to figure out its meaning, in this post, let’s find out everything necessary about Facebook Impressum.

Table Of Contents

What Is Impressum?

An Impressum is a must-have statement for websites and printed materials in German-speaking countries. It’s a disclosure label that tells people who’s behind the content. For online businesses, it’s crucial because it requires sharing the contact info of the website owner and basic details about the company.

For online shops and websites, having an Impressum is as important as it is to visitors. It shows them who’s responsible for the website and its content. This is not just a formality; it’s a legal requirement. If businesses don’t comply, they could face legal issues.

Why Do I Need an Impressum?

As per the German Telemedia Act, an Impressum is needed if you are operating a commercial website, including business social media pages in Switzerland, Austria, or Germany, irrespective of the domain you have.

Moreover, you’d also need an Impressum if you’re doing significant business with people residing in any of these countries. However, if you are running private pages, like personal blogs, and more that don’t generate an income, you wouldn’t need an Impressum.

What Should I Write in an Impressum?

As per the Telemedia Act, you must add the following details while writing an Impressum:

  • Name of the owner or the manager of the business or page
  • Address of the registered business
  • Contact information, such as email address, phone number
  • Information regarding business registration, such as registered name and registration number
  • VAT ID number or the trade registry number (if available)

What is the Difference Between an Impressum and a Privacy Policy?

When it comes to evaluating the difference between an Impressum and a privacy policy, you’re sure to find a huge one. While the former is simply a list of information that represents your business, on the contrary, the latter is an essential document that outlines why and how your business is engaged in collecting, using, and sharing the personal information of customers.

An Impressum is lawful only in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany; however, a privacy policy is needed almost everywhere in the world. Also, different countries have varying privacy policy laws.

For instance, if your business is serving in the UK or the EU, you’d have to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Other than that, if you’re operating a business in California, you’d have to adhere to the California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA).

Although a privacy policy carries some of the similar information as Impressum; however, it’s one extensive document as compared to the other.

What is Facebook Impressum?

Facebook Impressum

Almost more than half of the businesses, today, have a website and social media pages, Facebook being one of them. Thus, to comply with the law, Facebook added one feature that enables users to create their Impressum on a public page in order to help businesses in German-speaking nations adhere to the law.

On Facebook, an Impressum is a section available on the About page that showcases the legal identification numbers and contact information of a business. Here, you can put nothing more than 2,000 characters.

After this, the text will be shortened, and a link will be added to complete Impressum. Further, the Pages, Groups, and Event Policies of Facebook have made it necessary for administrators to obey all of the applicable regulations and rules.

Thus, if your business is subjected to the Telemedia Act, you’ll have to add an Impressum to your business’s Facebook page.

What to Include in Your Facebook Page Impressum?

Upon visiting your Facebook page, users will be able to see the Impressum information when they click on the About link. Considering the restrictions in word count, you will only have to provide minimal information. On Facebook, your Impressum section should contain the following information:

  • Name of the organization or business
  • Address of the organization or business
  • Contact information; email, fax number, and phone number of the organization or business
  • Name of the manager or owner of the page as well as of the organization or business
  • Registration and license numbers
  • Links to the official website
  • Whether the business is a part of a regulated profession
  • Details of relevant professional rules, designation, and chamber
  • VAT ID number or business ID number (if available)

How to Add Impressum To Your Facebook Page?

Adding Impressum to the Facebook page is quite a seamless and hassle-free process. You’d neither require any tools nor in-depth technical knowledge for the same. Simply follow the below-mentioned steps, and you’ll be done before you realize it.

  • In the left menu, from the News Feed, click Pages
  • Now, choose the page where you wish to add the Impressum and click on it
  • Click the Edit Page Info option.
  • Look for the Impressum section and add the information
  • Click Save Changes

And it’s done!

Some Impressum Examples

BMW

BMW Facebook Impressum

Allianz

Allianz Facebook Impressum

Audi

Audi Facebook Impressum

FAQ

1. Do I need to write an Impressum on Facebook?

If your business is operating in any of the German-speaking countries, especially in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, you’d need to add an Impressum on Facebook.

2. Is Impressum the same as the privacy policy?

No, Impressum and privacy policy are two different things. While the privacy policy may contain some of the information that is also available in Impressum, however, it’s an extensive and lengthier document than the other.

3. Do I need to hire somebody to create an Impressum on Facebook?

No, you wouldn’t need to hire anybody, and you can do so yourself. Simply follow the steps mentioned in this post, and you’ll be able to add an Impressum to your Facebook page within a few seconds.

4. How can I remove the Impressum from my Facebook page?

To remove the Impressum from your Facebook page, go to Settings on the page. Then, scroll down and click on Edit for Impressum option. If you wish to delete everything, simply erase the content and click Save Changes.

The Need for Impressum: Summary 

To summarize the need for Impressum, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that not having an Impressum may leave you in legal trouble if you’re operating your business in a German-speaking country.

Keeping in mind that the law has made it mandatory to add an Impressum, make sure you don’t neglect this factor. If you haven’t added an Impressum on Facebook yet, follow the above-mentioned details, craft an Impressum, and add the same to your business page by following the steps mentioned above.

Also, even if your business isn’t operating in any of the three countries, as stated in this post, adding an Impressum wouldn’t harm you in any way. Rather, it’ll just help your users acquire some additional information about your brand.

To add an Impressum to your WordPress site, choose a popular WordPress plugin like WP Legal Pages for a simple and easy process.

If you’ve liked reading this article, don’t forget to check out other engaging articles:

Want to create a free privacy policy for your WordPress website, we recommend using the WP Legal Pages plugin!

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