dpa issues privacy guidelines for social media use

German news agency dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH has published comprehensive privacy guidelines concerning its social media and social network presences. The guidelines aim to inform users about how their personal data is processed when interacting with dpa's social media accounts.

dpa seeks to ensure transparency in data processing and to inform users about their rights under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The news agency emphasizes that these guidelines do not apply to the processing of personal data related to visits to the privacy policy website itself, for which dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is responsible.

The company clarifies that the entity responsible for data processing is the specific dpa group company operating the respective social media presence. As dpa utilizes social media platforms, it shares partial responsibility for data processing with these platform providers, in accordance with GDPR Article 26.

The guidelines detail how dpa collects and processes information provided by users, such as likes, shares, comments, and messages. This processing is often based on dpa's legitimate interest in providing functional social media services. It is also noted that platform providers themselves collect data from their visitors. dpa assures that personal data will be deleted or anonymized when no longer needed for the stated purposes.