With a theme, once again, of “Together for a better internet”, the day called upon all stakeholders to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially for children and young people. 

2022 is the European Year of Youth 

As this year has been declared the European Year of Youth, the European Commission marked the day with special activities on social media. Vice-President Šuica and Commissioner Breton featured in a video together with young people to discuss children’s digital rights and online safety, discussing the EU’s actions in those areas. Additionally, a series of videos were published featuring Better Internet for Kids Youth Ambassadors and youth panellists from different countries in Europe exchanging views on their priorities online, the importance of digital skills, and their perspective on how to ensure better online experiences in the future. Moreover, a live Twitter Spaces event was broadcast on the morning of SID, hosted by DG HOME and DG CNECT, providing an overview of how the EU is helping young people feel safer online through legislation and awareness raising.

Furthermore, the Better Internet for Kids annual report 2021 was published on Safer Internet Day outlining the ongoing commitment to keeping Europe’s children and young people safe online through long-standing programmes and funding.

Safer Internet Day website

On the day of SID itself, www.saferinternetday.org received over 34,000 users and over 71,000 page views. The metrics in the month leading up to SID (from 08/01 to 08/02) were significantly higher, counting over 231,000 users and over 495,000 page views (up more than 85 per cent on users and 33 per cent on page views on the previous year). This trend reflects our continuing strategy of building awareness of SID – and driving traffic to the site – in advance of the day through an extensive and sustained social media campaign, using both organic and promoted posts, with the aim that stakeholders deliver (or get involved in) local actions on the day.

Trending on social media

Safer Internet Day was once again a major topic of discussion on social media, both before and after the day itself. For the first time this year, as part of a special ‘Twitter Trend Takeover’ promotion (kindly provided as part of our established relationship with Twitter), the hashtag #SaferInternetDay was promoted as a trending topic in three countries: Belgium, Ireland and Spain. Across the three markets, the takeover gained 7.9 million impressions, 2.3 million video views and over 67,000 engagements. In addition, the hashtag #SID2022 demonstrated an organic growth over the course of the day and also trended on the Twitter timeline. Both the #SaferInternetDay and #SID2022 hashtags continued to appear in Twitter Trends on the day following SID.

Influential supporters

On social media, SID enjoyed widespread support from the EU institutions, with posts by the European Commission, Dubravka Suica, Thierry Breton, Mariya Gabriel, Ylva Johansson, Roberto Viola, the Greens, Roberta Metsola, BetterNet4EU, Digital EU, the Child Rights Intergroup in the European Parliament, Caterina Chinnici, Hilde Vautmans, Europol, Eurojust, EU Justice, the EU Agency for Cybersecurity, and DG Migration and Home Affairs.

Many other influential supporters also helped spread the word about SID on Twitter, such as the World Bank Digital Development, UNICEF, the Royal Family, YouTube, the World Health Organisation, Voices of Youth, COFACE Europe, Twitter, UN Women, the UN, António Guterres, Microsoft, Interpol,  OECD, Social Pilot, Kahoot, the Council of Europe, FBI Sundar Pichai, UN Cyber, Lego, Apple,  Google, Mind,  INTERPOL, the Dutch Ministry for Justice and Safety, Urban Decay,  UNESCO, the 5Rights Foundation, among others.

Safer Internet Day in the press

Articles about Safer Internet Day were published in BBC Newsround, 20 Minutes, RFI France, Le Journal des Femmes, JDN, the Guardian, CNEWS, Ouest France, NationalWorld, The Indian Express, Times of Oman, UN News, Social Media Today, Yahoo News, the Council of Europe, RTE, la Repubblica, Süddeutsche Zeitung, TechRound, Microsoft, JagranJosh, ITU News, Corriere Della Sera, Zawya, the New Times, to quote only a few.

Save the date for SID 2023!

So, with SID 2022 now behind us, what's to come? Planning for Safer Internet Day 2023 has already started! The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) project, and the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres run events and activities to raise awareness of online safety and digital citizenship all year round. Here is how you can keep an eye on the initiatives to come:

• Check the BIK portal and the Safer Internet Day website regularly.
• Follow Safer Internet Day on Twitter (@safeinternetday) and Facebook (@SaferInternetDay).
• Follow the Insafe network on Twitter (@Insafenetwork) and Facebook (@saferinternet).
• Follow Better Internet for Kids on LinkedIn.

You can also subscribe to the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) bulletin, a quarterly newsletter providing an in-depth exploration of specific online safety issues – such as positive online content, online challenges, media literacy, and much more.

The next edition of SID will take place on Tuesday, 7 February 2023 when we will again join “Together for a better internet”. Next year’s edition will mark the 20th anniversary of the celebration of Safer Internet Day, and special activities are expected for the occasion. Campaigning activities will start from September 2022 onwards.