Better Internet for Kids

Over 80 schools and youth organisations took part in Safer Internet Month 2025 in Austria!

As Safer Internet Day falls during the school holidays in many Austrian provinces, the Safer Internet Centre Austria (Saferinternet.at) declares the whole of February Safer Internet Month every year. This means that every day in February is Safer Internet Day.  

This year, schools and youth centres throughout Austria were once again invited to take part in Safer Internet Month and implement their own creative projects on the safe use of digital media or be inspired by the examples and materials on Saferinternet.at. Current topics included sexual harassment on the internet, recognising fake news, intensive smartphone use, cyberbullying and cost traps with in-app purchases.

To offer an additional incentive to participate in Safer Internet Month, attractive prizes were also offered this year: Vouchers for media equipment of your choice and Saferinternet.at workshops were raffled off among all participating schools and youth organisations.

This year, Saferinternet.at once again provided a new treasure hunt for children and young people to explore the topic of sexual harassment on the internet in a playful way. The new brochure "Young people and sexuality on the internet: What parents should know about sexting, sextortion and cyber-grooming" was designed especially for parents with information on criminal law consequences and preventative measures. In addition, a new study on the topic of "Sexual harassment online" was  released during Safer Internet Month and the symposium "Safer Internet - Growing up in the digital world" was organised.  

AI, deepfakes and workshops

Many schools chose the topic of artificial intelligence for their participation in Safer Internet Month 2025. BHAK/BHAS Villach, for example, focussed on the question of whether AI is a curse or a blessing: The positive and negative aspects of AI were brought to life for different people using a role-playing game. Another popular approach to the topic of AI was packaging knowledge about AI in reels. The students from the vocational school in Laa an der Thaya explained that AI is not just limited to ChatGPT, but can be found in many everyday tools such as Google Maps and social networks.  

The pupils at Laakirchen secondary school were investigating fake news. How do you recognise it and what can you do about it? Fact checkers were used to educate students about fake news. Eisenerz secondary school also looked at how to recognise fake news and used these to create their own false reports. Finally, the pupils went to a digital fake news escape room.

Workshops on a wide variety of topics were also popular. At the Knittelfeld special needs school, for example, workshops on data protection were offered for all school levels. What was learnt was then incorporated into posters.  

Reflection on your own media use  

How much time do we actually spend on social media? This question was on the minds of many schools this year. The "Safer Social Media" project at Lech am Arlberg secondary school analysed their own media use in a multi-stage process. For one week, all pupils at the school tracked their social media time to gain an overview. The sometimes alarming results were analysed and reflected upon in a next step. Finally, tips for safe use of social networks were discussed in randomly formed small groups. All results can be found on the school's website. The students and some teachers at the Bundesrealgymnasium Salzburg also took on an exciting challenge: 72 hours without mobile phones! From Monday to Thursday, the mobile phones were switched off. This was followed by an exchange and reflection on the experience.  

Young people develop learning materials for children  

In the "Teens teach Kids" project, students at BHAK Eisenerz developed creative learning materials for children aged 6 to 11 to sensitise them to the safe use of the internet. The topics ranged from photos on the internet to safe chatting and cyberbullying. The learning tools included posters and comics, videos, board games, quizzes and escape rooms.

Scavenger hunt and quiz  

The Saferinternet.at scavenger hunts were once again particularly popular in 2025, with over 7,000 pupils eagerly completing them. The quizzes were also used as an introduction to the various topics.  

Theme evenings and information about social media  

Youth organisations were particularly active on Instagram and TikTok. In videos, stories and posts, they provided information about fake news, cyberbullying and hate online. Workshops, quizzes and safer internet talks were also popular activities.

All activities for Safer Internet Month in Austria can be found under the hashtag #SID2025AT! 

Learn more about Safer Internet Day activities in Austria on their SID page on our platform!

Further information about the Austrian Safer Internet Centre can be found on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) public portal, including links to its national websites and other contact information. Similar information can be found on the BIK portal for all Safer Internet Centres in Europe.