Updates as of 3/11/2024: The Impressum section has begun to be reintroduced and displayed on some Facebook pages. Users are still reporting issues with no Impressum field being available for editing by page admins and/or a plus button displaying in the field as a page visitor. More updates will be relayed here as they are known.
In January of 2021, Meta announced the launch of its New Pages Experience template for Facebook Business Pages. The redesigned template touted an experience that would make it simpler for public figures and creators to build community and achieve business goals. The announcement promised a more intuitive layout and easier navigation between personal profiles and business pages. There was also a new focus on page followers and additional tools for tracking engagement. However, these updates were not without issue. Some fields, like the Impressum, have had a change for the worse.
Transition Issues
After the announcement, existing Facebook Business Pages, under what is now known as the Classic Template, slowly began to automatically transition to the New Pages Experience. The Meta Business Help Center outlined that when a page updates to the New Pages Experience, all page content – including posts, videos, stories, groups, followers – would automatically move to the new page. Many welcomed the updates and the new features that came with it, but others noticed key issues in the update. The launch of a new Intro field that only allowed for 101 characters resulted in incomplete sentences and a new Reviews tab shows contradictory information about the number of reviews available for viewing. The most egregious of these issues can be found in the Impressum section.
The Impressum - a Dead Field
The Impressum section was used by many to include key legal disclosures and licensing information as needed for their business. Regulated businesses, such as those in the financial industry, regularly made use of the field for disclosures and other linked resources. Businesses located in some countries, such as Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, are also required to display a statement of ownership on their web presence.
However, over the course of the new pages experience transition, this field has been rife with issues. Some users experienced preview text running off the screen with no ability to view more. Others who had existing text in the field found upon the template transition that the entire field was left blank, just in time for a regulatory examination. As of February 2024, it has been discovered by users that the newest issue with the Impressum section is that it has altogether disappeared from page visitor view in a web browser. Regardless if text is included in the field, the Impressum section no longer displays and may be considered a dead field or one that is soon to be decommissioned by Facebook.
Today, Facebook still includes an Add an Impressum page in the Help Center and the Impressum field is still viewable in the mobile app. Admins of the page can also view the field in edit mode in the app and in a web browser, but the field is absent for page visitors, such as consumers and regulators.
What To Do Next
It is uncertain what the future holds for this field and it is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. Facebook Business Page administrators should instead include key licensing and disclosure information in the Details About section. This field allows for over 2,000+ characters of space, which includes enough room for introductory statements and key disclosures.
