Better Internet for Kids

I’m João, a BIK Youth Ambassador from Portugal, currently studying Aerospace Engineering, with a big passion for management, leadership, planes, and of course, technology, and youth participation in politics, decision-making and other issues, where kids always have amazing views to share.  

In March 2026, I had the privilege of participating in a COFACE Families Europe conference. COFACE Families Europe is a network of people working towards the safety and well-being of families in a world of constant change, technological progress, and sometimes-forgotten values, ethics, and best practices.

In COFACE’s latest conference, entitled “Families in the age of artificial intelligence: Rights, inclusion and empowerment”, I was invited alongside two other BIK Youth Ambassadors to speak on what this broad topic means to us.  

As BIK Youth Ambassadors, it’s also our role to be active and heard, and to contribute to the growth of our society. With this in mind, I discussed building capacity for parents and teachers in the new AI era and co-moderated a session on AI in finance.

As for the first task, it is not easy. We are talking about guiding kids safely through the digital space and keeping them away from harmful and dangerous content, without removing guidance from adults. We live in times that require us to be more critical and more thoughtful about what we see, hear, say and, most importantly, consume. Because of that, I advocated for a holistic approach – something highlighted by most of the speakers – where we don’t necessarily need to find monumental resources and simply give them to parents and teachers but rather try to understand how to approach this situation, by proposing a three-part line of thinking:  

1. Firstly, we need parents and teachers to have a fundamentally healthy and safe relationship with social media, AI, and other technological tools, for them to successfully lead youngsters in this complicated and sometimes dangerous journey inside the online world.  
2. Secondly, the ability to identify the problems that kids face online is crucial If teachers and parents cannot do this, then kids may end up alone with something they don’t understand. This can lead them to developdangerous habits, contacts, or even end up with more serious health problems, such as anxiety or depression.  
3. And finally, kids need help solving their problems. I think this is  something parents and teachers are generally used to , but not when it comes to technology. We need to empower parents and teachers to create a safe dialogue space where the child feels comfortable sharing what they are facing, feeling, and struggling with, as we’d expect in the “real” world. 

At the same time, we equally need to keep one thing in mind – kids learn mostly by failure, so we need to let them fail, but in a controlled environment, with adult support and protection, so that when they face real threats or problems, they can adapt, and react accordingly, creating at the end, a better and safer online space. 

This is something that nowadays isn’t that easy to achieve on social media, but, without a doubt, being careful, paying attention and not overreacting to mistakes, is, in my opinion, crucial for the child to open up and feel the support of adults, in order to talk to them, and helping them avoid dangerous paths and serious mistakes.

Besides this, I also got to co-moderate, alongside Elizabeth Gosme, Director at COFACE, a session titled “Financial inclusion and consumer rights in an AI world”, where I heard interesting perspectives from Martin Schmalzried and Peter Norwood about AI in finance, on a more family-friendly approach, and a more regulatory framework perspective, respectively. This made me aware of various challenges in the financial AI ecosystem and, without a doubt, shed a lot of light on regulatory gaps in consumer data protection and the frameworks in place to protect those using these services every day. This allowed for a multifaceted overview of this environment, which was very interesting, and helped develop this topic, which is so underexplored these days.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with a very simple idea: youth participation is, without a doubt, a cornerstone of societal progress. I’m very glad to have these kinds of opportunities and look forward to continuing participation and discussion on these topics, especially those this conference explored, as they are, without a doubt, crucial when it comes to protecting minors and changing policy frameworks.

I commend COFACE Families Europe for this amazing event and for inviting me to participate. I’d also like to thank the BIK Youth programme, which always provides wonderful opportunities, and to those who are part of this group – youngsters and adults – for taking part in this important mission to protect kids online. 

Discover more about youth participation activities in the BIK Youth section of the portal.