Impact assessment

According to the general regulations of Art. 35 para. 1 of the European General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR), a data protection impact assessment must be carried out if a form of processing, in particular when using new technologies, is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons due to the nature, scope, circumstances and purposes of the processing. The "Framework for the use of social media by public bodies" of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (LfDI) makes it mandatory to assess the consequences of the intended processing operations for the protection of personal data within the meaning of the GDPR.

The LinkedIn offering of HWG LUitself does not trigger this consequence due to the very limited scope of its own data processing (see the LinkedIn privacy policy), especially in view of the fact that its posts are mainly purely about sending content without personal reference, and in the case of a reference to other LinkedIn users, only the data that they have voluntarily provided themselves is processed (since LinkedIn is a career network, information on employer and position can often be found in addition to the user name and posts).

However, from HWG LU's point of view, the use of LinkedIn in itself represents a high-risk processing operation for which a data protection impact assessment must be carried out due to its far-reaching effects, particularly with regard to the evaluation of data by LinkedIn for advertising purposes and the like.

This is because by using a LinkedIn account, the respective user is subject to systematic observation by LinkedIn. This can also reveal sensitive data such as political views, sexual orientation or health problems, which can be linked together and used to create a personality profile. Particularly vulnerable persons such as young people can also be LinkedIn users and therefore affected, although they are naturally not part of the LinkedIn target group, even if official registration is permitted from the age of 16. Even if a user merely passively reads along on LinkedIn without their own account, sensitive data can be collected through the collection of log data, such as previously visited websites or the user's location data.

This is all the more true as LinkedIn cannot be checked or can only be checked to a limited extent. Since the data of German users is not processed within Germany, but in non-European countries, there are higher hurdles to accessing (judicial) legal protection than with a company based in Germany.

In this respect, the HWG LU assumes that, as a public body that uses a social network for public relations work and to provide general information, it bears joint responsibility.

Shared responsibility does not mean that the HWG LU confirms or guarantees the data protection compliance of LinkedIn's products. It cannot do this under the given circumstances. Rather, shared responsibility means that HWG LU makes itself and others aware of the risks of social networks. Social networks are currently in need of improvement in many respects from a data protection perspective. For this reason, LinkedIn users are shown alternative, more data protection-friendly communication channels by referring them to the HWG LU homepage.

Users are made aware of the risks generally associated with the use of social media in HWG LU's privacy policy for LinkedIn.

HWG LU has committed to these measures in its usage concept. The advantages and disadvantages of using LinkedIn are regularly evaluated in accordance with the LinkedIn Corporation's terms of use. This evaluation of the usage concept takes place regularly and takes into account the usage figures and reach as well as the target group structure and usage behavior of the networks.

LinkedIn usage is thus embedded in a package of measures (usage concept, privacy policy, disclaimer and netiquette). Against this background, the assessment of the consequences of HWG LU's use of LinkedIn is as follows:

1. risk identification:

The risks described at the beginning, which are associated with the use of LinkedIn, exist in principle independently of the HWG LU's own LinkedIn use. Also, in the vast majority of cases, the posts of the LU HWG itself do not make any reference to personal data, but instead disseminate their own factual content.

Finally, the data that is processed through interaction with the LinkedIn account of HWG LU or other accounts - namely the posts and/or the account name of a LinkedIn user - is already publicly/generally accessible/free on the internet.

However, by appearing on the LinkedIn page of HWG LU and the interaction, they are made available to a broader/"more specific" public and may thus attract greater attention and achieve wider distribution than without this interaction.

The fact that the HWG LU follows other accounts or they follow it also creates additional cross-connections and information about the respective LinkedIn user; for example, areas of interest can be seen from the subscriber/follower property, regular contributions, activities and group memberships.

Finally, LinkedIn also collects log data when users passively read the page.

HWG LU's own use of LinkedIn therefore increases the amount of data that is used and analyzed by LinkedIn.

2.Risk analysis:

By expanding the circle of dissemination and increasing the linking options, the processing of data for other purposes by LinkedIn and secret profiling is encouraged. The openness for visitor contributions can also lead to adverse social consequences such as inappropriate or discriminatory comments or the dissemination of sensitive data or, as a career network, in particular with regard to current or future jobs and professional environments.

While these damages may be significant if caused by LinkedIn itself, they are only increased to a very limited extent by the LinkedIn profile of HWG LU. This is because the data is largely available to LinkedIn anyway. In particular, there is no compulsion to create a LinkedIn account as a result of HWG LU's offer, as there are sufficient alternative contact and information options for HWG LU.

In addition, the topics covered by the HWG LU, such as science, education and research, are only suitable for triggering hateful debates to a limited extent, so that the probability of damage occurring is also very limited in this respect.

3.Risk assessment

Overall, the additional risk caused by the LinkedIn account of the HWG LU can therefore be classified as low to medium.

It is also possible to implement remedial measures that further reduce the risk. However, a large part of these measures are the responsibility of the user: users can protect themselves to a certain extent by making various settings, such as deleting their browser history, deactivating cookies or not sharing their location when using photos.

With regard to people who are particularly worthy of protection, such as young people, it can be seen that they are generally not part of the LinkedIn target group. Even though it is possible to register with LinkedIn from the age of 16, LinkedIn as a career network is primarily aimed at specialists and managers who want to network with each other worldwide on their own initiative.

This target group is generally much older and has the relevant education and therefore has to weigh up the professional benefits of the service against the protection of their data. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that there is an increased risk of fake profiles and identity theft, especially with business networks, as the business/professional environment of LinkedIn users is often described in detail.

In addition, some LinkedIn practices, such as pretending to be a member of existing contacts of LinkedIn users and independently sending email invitations to join LinkedIn, can cause suspicion among LinkedIn users' circle of acquaintances or even damage their professional reputation.

LinkedIn users should therefore be particularly advised to prohibit LinkedIn from accessing address books and other external services and to deactivate the automatic sending of email invitations, as LinkedIn also contacts contacts outside its own network and stores their data. For additional security, the user can be advised to only use LinkedIn from the desktop in the browser and not to install any LinkedIn apps on their smartphone/mobile device.

As a further remedial measure, continuous editorial support enables intervention in the event of defamatory or offensive comments, up to and including blocking the account. HWG LU has formulated a netiquette for the use of its website, which it will ensure is adhered to when managing the site.

4. result

HWG LU's use of LinkedIn is acceptable in view of the risks described and the binding measures envisaged. HWG LU undertakes to monitor further developments and to regularly repeat and, if necessary, further develop the review carried out here.

Status: January 2026

HWG LU uses the information service offered on LinkedIn via the technical platform and services of LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA: https: //www.linkedin.com/school/hwg-ludwigshafen

LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, is responsible for the data processing of persons living in the designated countries of the GDPR (European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland).

We would like to point out that you use the LinkedIn page offered here and its functions on your own responsibility. This applies in particular to the use of the interactive functions (e.g. commenting, sharing, rating).

The information and publications to be found on our LinkedIn page are a voluntary additional offer. Visiting our LinkedIn page is only possible for registered users of the LinkedIn platform. Alternatively, you can also access all the information offered on this page on our website at www.hwg-lu.de.

1. data processed by LinkedIn:

Information on what data is processed by LinkedIn and for what purposes can be found in LinkedIn's privacy policy: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.

With regard to the collection, use and storage of personal data provided to LinkedIn by users from the designated countries of the GDPR, LinkedIn Corporation and its US subsidiaries ("LinkedIn") comply with the standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

You can find more information at https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/62533?trk=microsites-frontend_legal_privacy-policy&lang=de.

HWG LU has no influence on the type and scope of the data processed by LinkedIn, the type of processing and use or the disclosure of this data to third parties. It also has no effective control options in this respect. Likewise, HWG LU has no knowledge of the content of your data transmitted to LinkedIn and cannot provide any information about what data is stored about you through the use of the LinkedIn service.

By using LinkedIn, your personal data is collected, transmitted, stored, disclosed and used by the LinkedIn Corporation. LinkedIn transfers your data from the countries designated in the GDPR to the United States of America (USA) and back. Currently, the LinkedIn data centers for storing the information of its members are located in the USA and Singapore.

In addition to your voluntarily entered data such as profile, login, contact and calendar data, LinkedIn also collects and processes, for example, location and device information as well as Internet Protocol addresses (IP addresses). Using cookies or similar technologies, LinkedIn can also identify you outside of its own services and across different devices.

LinkedIn collects and analyzes data from the content, news and messages you publish and upload, as well as data from partners and affiliates, such as information provided by your workplace/educational institution, websites or third-party services.

You can find more information about this at: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.

LinkedIn states that it uses your personal data to provide you with additional services (including advertisements), including with the help of automated systems and its own conclusions, and to adapt them so that they are more relevant and useful to you and others.

For this purpose, LinkedIn may also combine data internally via various services covered in its privacy policy (details at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy#use).

LinkedIn does not conclusively and clearly state how LinkedIn uses the data from visits to LinkedIn pages for its own purposes, to what extent activities on the LinkedIn page are assigned to individual users, how long LinkedIn stores this data and whether data from a visit to the LinkedIn page is passed on to third parties, and HWG LU is not aware of this.

LinkedIn also states that it may use the services of third parties (partner companies and external service providers) to assist it in providing its services (e.g. maintenance, analysis, verification, payment, fraud detection, marketing and development).

These third parties have access to your information to the extent reasonably necessary to perform the relevant tasks for LinkedIn and are obligated not to disclose or use your information for any other purpose. For more information, see: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy#share.

If third-party services are used by LinkedIn for the LinkedIn page of HWG LU, HWG LU has not commissioned, approved or otherwise supported this in any way. Nor is the personal data obtained during the analysis made available to it. Only certain non-personal, aggregated information about the activity, such as the number of profile or link clicks on a particular post or page, can be viewed by HWG LU via its account. Furthermore, HWG LU has no way of preventing or disabling the use of such services on its LinkedIn page.

Finally, LinkedIn also receives information when you view content, for example, even if you have not created an account (e.g. via a public LinkedIn profile). This so-called "log data" may include the IP address, browser type, operating system, information about the previously accessed website and the pages you accessed, your location, your mobile phone provider, the device you are using (including device ID and application ID), the search terms you used and cookie information.

LinkedIn buttons or widgets integrated into websites and the use of cookies enable LinkedIn to record your visits to these websites and assign them to your LinkedIn profile. This data can be used to tailor content or advertising to you.

Accordingly, HWG LU refrains from using such buttons and widgets on its own websites. Even if the LinkedIn Corporation is a non-European provider, it is bound by the GDPR in the designated countries. This applies, for example, to your rights to information, blocking or deletion of data.

You have the option of restricting the processing and visibility of your data in your account navigation under "Settings and data protection" under the various menu items listed there.

Please also note that all information you enter in your profile is publicly visible by default, i.e. members who log in to the network and customers of LinkedIn services can view it. This also applies to your activities within the service, such as comments on posts, "Like" marks or the "Follow" function. Group memberships are also publicly visible.

If you share posts, this is set to public by default. You can restrict the visibility of these posts to your contacts in the options. You can also specify in the LinkedIn settings whether you want to share your contact list with all your contacts. With a so-called public profile, your content can also be found outside LinkedIn and in search engines.

Further information on these points can be found on the following LinkedIn help pages: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin.

The option to view and download your own data from LinkedIn can be found in your account navigation under "Settings and data protection" in the "Data protection" tab under "How LinkedIn uses your data" or at https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/member-data.

You can find information about LinkedIn's comprehensive data collection and other privacy settings options at: http://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.

The option to opt out of interest-based advertising (not advertising in general) can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-out.

You also have the option of contacting LinkedIn via the LinkedIn contact form or via the LinkedIn office in Ireland responsible for the designated countries if you have any questions about the privacy policy or user agreement:

Online contact form: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/PPQ.

Postal address:

LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company
Attn: Legal Dept (Privacy Policy and User Agreement)
Wilton Place,
Dublin 2, Ireland

You can ask LinkedIn to delete some of your personal data (for example, if the provision of services to you is no longer necessary) using the contact details above.

However, there are also data uses that you cannot influence via the settings.

If you do not agree to such use, your only option is to close your account: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/account-management/close-submit.

If you are located in one of the designated countries of the GDPR, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner: https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Contact-us/b/11.html.

2. data processed by HWG LUprocessed data:

HWG LU also processes your data. It does not collect any data itself via its LinkedIn account. However, the data you enter on LinkedIn, in particular your user name and the content published under your account, will be processed by us to the extent that we may share your posts or comment on them or write posts from us that refer to your account. The data you freely publish and disseminate on LinkedIn is thus included by HWG LU in its offer and made available to its followers and subscribers.

3 Rights, documentation, evaluation:

If you have any questions about our information offering, you can contact us at info@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de. You can assert your rights to information, blocking or deletion of data with our data protection officer: datenschutz@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de.

You can find the current version of this privacy policy here. In the event of changes to the privacy policy, you will find the previous versions linked.

The concept on which the offer is based can be found under the corresponding menu item: LinkedIn usage concept. This usage concept is regularly evaluated by us with regard to whether and how it is used. This evaluation of the usage concept takes into account the usage figures and reach as well as the target group structure of the networks.

Further information on LinkedIn and other social networks and how you can protect your data can also be found at www.youngdata.de.

Status: January 2026

Networking and communication with other LinkedIn profiles

Subscribing to or liking other LinkedIn profiles or liking posts or comments by HWG LU does not imply any statement about the relationship of HWG LU to these profiles or the content published by them. In particular, it does not imply any approval or recommendation for its subscribers. Rather, the HWG LU sees subscribing to other profiles or liking posts and comments as a way of networking with other bodies, persons and institutions for the rapid dissemination and knowledge of information related to university topics.

The HWG LU will not subscribe to all of its subscribers. Even if the HWG LU does not subscribe to a profile, this does not mean that the HWG LU rejects or is not interested in the respective profile.

Manner and purpose of use

HWG LU uses its LinkedIn profile for its own postings in the manner described in its usage concept. It may also reply to comments, insofar as this involves the exchange of information on topics related to the university. For all types of inquiries, contact options outside of LinkedIn are primarily available, such as emails to: info@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de. Detailed advice, for example on studying, is not provided, but the relevant telephone and e-mail contacts of the HWG LU are referred to via a website link.

LinkedIn and data protection

The use of LinkedIn by HWG LU does not imply any endorsement of this medium or the company or LinkedIn's privacy policy. The HWG LU recommends that all users inform themselves about the processing of their data by LinkedIn and protect their privacy as much as possible: This includes reading LinkedIn's privacy policy. Key aspects are also summarized in HWG LU's own privacy policy on its use of LinkedIn.

In addition, every user should at least make the following settings to protect their privacy

• Only open a user account with the data that is absolutely necessary
• Deactivate the widget function
• Prevent cross-page tracking (for example by using the Ghostery add-on in the browser)

Status: January 2026

We do not tolerate offensive or illegal posts on our social media pages. In particular, please refrain from

• Threats, bullying, harassment, insults, degradation, slurs, insinuations, defamation, slander and hate speech in any form
• Posts with attitudes/views that are xenophobic, sexist or discriminatory towards minorities, communities or individuals
• Posts that explicitly represent party-political, religious and/or ideological content and goals
• endorsement, incitement or glorification of violence, war, discrimination, unconstitutional or anti-democratic acts
• pornographic or sadistic depictions

Do not post any advertising or spam.

• Any commercial content will be removed immediately.
• It is also not permitted to use social networks to send advertising or other marketing content to others via private messages (spam).

Respect privacy and anonymity! Please help us to protect the privacy and rights of other users. Do not disclose any personal/private details of other people, regardless of whether they are also users of the network or not. This primarily includes name, address and other personal data, but also photos/videos. Please bear in mind that it may be difficult to delete these details completely at a later date.

As a user of the site, respect copyright and intellectual property rights! In particular, make sure that you have the rights to distribute the content, photos, works of art or other works protected by copyright, trademark or naming rights that you have published. By posting certain content, you confirm that you have the necessary permission to do so. You also consent to the further use of this content on the various social media pages of HWG LU.

"Watch what you say!" There is nothing wrong with being informal and using dialect or colloquial language, but no offensive language, swear words or the like will be tolerated. Nor will sexist remarks be tolerated. Remain friendly and tolerant! Even if you feel attacked or offended by a post/comment, remain objective and fair. If you feel you have been treated unfairly, you are welcome to let us know. The easiest way to do this is to send a direct message to the site administrator or email the HWG LU social media officer at hochschulkommunikation@hwg-lu.de.

To make the exchange accessible and understandable for everyone, please only post in German or English.

The comments, opinions and links posted by users on the social media pages operated by HWG LU do not necessarily reflect the opinion of HWG LU. Furthermore, copyrighted works or trademarks of the HWG LU may not be used without the prior written consent of the university.

All posts must have a concrete, direct reference to the activities of the HWG LU and comments must relate to the post commented on. In case of doubt, the respective site administrator should be contacted before posting.

Posts/content that violate the principles formulated here will be removed immediately. The author will be informed and admonished.

Users who ignore the netiquette of our social media pages despite repeated warnings will be excluded from using our social media pages. Depending on the type of content and/or the intensity of the insult, discrimination, threat, etc., we reserve the right to report this incident and the user to the respective site provider. These all have their own community standards, which also form the basis of our netiquette. As an example, we refer here to the Facebook Community Standards: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/

It is not possible for us to check all of our users' posts immediately. The page administrators can therefore not be held responsible or liable for the content of the comments. Rather, each user is responsible for his/her own contributions. We would like to point out that comments that violate applicable law are also subject to criminal prosecution on the Internet and can be reported to the police - by HWG LU or by users.

Status: January 2026