Biological Cybernetics
Information on data processing

Information on data processing in conformity with Art. 14 General Data Protection Regulation

1. Contact details of the controller

We, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V. (MPG), Hofgartenstraße 8, D-80539 Munich, Tel.: +49 (89) 2108-0, provide the following social media websites:

As the provider of these websites, we, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V., work together with the provider of the respective social media platform in the sense of Art. 4 No. 7 of the General Data Protection Act (GDPR):

  • Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. (Facebook, Instagram)
  • Google Ireland Ltd. (YouTube)
  • LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company (LinkedIn)
  • Twitter International Company (Twitter)

When you visit our social media websites, the controller processes personal data. Below we will inform you of which data these are, how they are processed and what rights you have in this context. We as the controller of these websites have concluded agreements with the provider of the respective social media platform which e.g. set out the conditions for using the websites. The terms of use of the respective provider and the terms and conditions and guidelines listed there at the end are relevant here.

2. Use of insights and cookies

The providers of the social platforms also provide us with user statistics (so-called analytical services or page insights data) for our websites on the social media platforms based on the actions and interactions of our followers (e.g. likes, shares, comments etc., the number of following, individual page area access, scope of a contribution as well as statistics about the followers based on age, language, place of origin or interests), which help us to contact our followers and interested parties, understand the use and scope of our contributions, evaluate contents and identify user preferences and design our websites on the social media platforms to be as target-group-friendly as possible. We cannot influence or access the creation or processing of these user statistics and the underlying data; this is performed on the sole responsibility of the provider of the respective social media platform.

The provider of the respective social media platform receives, records and processes the information stored in the cookies. This also includes services provided by the provider or the provider group of the social media platforms as well as services provided by other companies that use the social media platforms and which are visited by the user. In addition, other positions such as partners or even third parties can use cookies on the social media platforms to provide services to the companies advertising on the social media platforms. For more information on the use of cookies by the provider, please see the latter's Cookie Policy.

3. Contact details of the Data Protection Officer

The contact details of the MPG Data Protection Officer are: Hofgartenstraße 8, D-80539 Munich, Tel.: +49 (89) 2108-1554, Email: datenschutz@mpg.de

4. Purposes of data processing

The data entered on our websites on social media platforms such as comments, questions, videos, images, likes, public messages, job preferences and selection etc. are published by the provider of the social media platform and only used or processed by us for the purposes listed below. We reserve the right to delete contents, where necessary. If applicable, we will share our contents on our website, if this is a function of the website and communicate with you via the website.

The websites provided by us contain links to our other company sites on social media platforms. You can identify links to the websites of the social media platforms e.g. by the respective company logo. If you follow this link, you can reach our company sites on the respective social media platforms. When you click on a link to a social media platform, a connection is established with the servers of the social media platform. This informs us that you have visited our website. In addition, further data is transmitted to the providers of the social media platform. These are, for example:

  • Address of the website with the activated link
  • Data and time of the website access and activation of the link
  • Information about the browser and operating system used
  • IP adress

If you are already logged into the respective social media platform at the time that you activate the link, the provider of this social media platform may be able to determine your user name or even your real name based on the transmitted data and attribute this information to your personal user account on the social media platform. You can prevent this allocation to your personal user account, if you log out of your user account first.

Establishing contact

You can contact us via several of our websites on social media platforms. We process your data in order to answer your query and, if applicable, to send you the requested information materials. Your data may also be transmitted to the position responsible for your query. This position may be a third party. A transmission only takes place, if we are authorized to carry out the transmission under data protection law.

If you send us a query on the social media platforms, we may, depending on the required response, also refer to other, secure communication channels which guarantee confidentiality.

You always have the option to send us confidential enquiries via our address listed under contact details.

Statistical evaluations

Information processing is intended to allow us as the provider of the social media website to receive statistics (so-called page insights data) which the provider of the social media platform makes available based on the visits to our website. For example, it enables us to gain knowledge about the profiles of the visitor who like our website or use the applications on our website, so that we can provide them with more relevant contents and develop functions which may be of greater interest to them.

In order for us to better understand how to use our website to better reach our interested users, the recorded information is also subjected to demographic and geographical analyses which are then made available to us. We can use this information in order to offer targeted interest-based contents without obtaining direct knowledge of the visitor's identity. Where visitors use social media platforms on several devices, the recording and analysis can also be implemented across several devices, if these are registered users who are logged into their profiles.

The created visitors’ statistics are transmitted exclusively in an anonymized format. We do not have any access to the underlying data.

You can find more information on the processing of your personal data by the provider of the respective social media platform in the context of creating and processing user statistics by checking the information about user statistics on the following websites by the respective social media platform:

5. Legal basis for data processing

We provide these social media websites in order to present ourselves to the users and other interested parties who visit our websites and to communicate with them. The personal user data are processed on the basis of our legitimate interests in an optimized company and product presentation (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR).

6. Recipients or categories of recipients

We do not transfer the data to third parties.

The servers of the social media platforms are located in the USA and in other countries outside the European Union. As a result, the providers of the social media platform can also use the data in countries outside the European Union. Please note that companies in these countries are subject to data protection law that does not generally protect personal data to the same extent as is the case in the European Union.

Please note that we cannot influence the scope, type and purpose of the data processing by the provider of the social media platform. For more information on the use of your data by the social media platform linked to on our website, please see the privacy policies of the respective social media platforms:

7. Duration of storage

We do not save the data.

8. Rights of the data subject

You have the right to information about your data saved at the MPG, the right to correction of the data, if these are incorrect, the right to deletion of data stored inappropriately and the right to data portability. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. For the MPG, this is the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision [Bayerische Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht], PO Box 1349, 91504 Ansbach.

9. Source of data

The data are not collected directly from the data subjects but instead made available by the provider of the social media platform: