Better Internet for Kids

As part of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Quality Assurance Programme (QAP), the Insafe-INHOPE Coordination Teams are jointly conducting a set of fifteen country visits to national Safer Internet Centres (SICs) to better understand what is happening in the Member States: monitoring emerging issues and challenges, identifying good practices to be shared, and harvesting the results of Better Internet for Kids (BIK) policy. On 14-15 November 2024, an online cluster meeting took place with the Finnish and Luxembourgish SICs.  

Finland

The Finnish SIC consortium is composed of three partners: National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI), a governmental organisation under the Ministry of Education and Culture, coordinates the SIC and awareness centre. The Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (MLL) operates the helpline and carries out youth participation and awareness raising work for the SIC. Finally, Save the Children Finland (SCF) operates the hotline and while contributing to the awareness raising work of the SIC as well.

The main objectives of the Finnish SIC project is aligned with the BIK+ Strategy and aims at providing a “better and safer internet and media environment for people of all ages”. In this context, it was also noted that the Finnish SIC is one of the main actors in the implementation of the BIK+ Strategy in Finland. The strategy was presented to the Finnish Parliament in 2022, and there are also several national policies with goals related to those of the BIK+ Strategy. In addition, the SIC also mentioned that special attention is given to children in vulnerable situations.

Within the Finnish SIC consortium, the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) has the role of the awareness centre; however, awareness raising is carried out as a joint effort by all partners.  

Several awareness raising initiatives of the awareness centre were highlighted during the meeting. These included the following:

• Media literacy week: Organised since 2012, the Media literacy week (MLW) is held as part of the Safer Internet Day (SID) celebrations. The campaign aims to promote media literacy and to develop educators’ media education competencies.
• Finnish game week: Organised during the second week of November since 2011, the Finnish game week promotes game literacy and positive game culture.
• Media literacy school: The Media literacy school is a web portal for education professionals where they can access to relevant information, activities, educational materials, blogs, podcasts as well as a research index.
• Media education forum: The Media education forum for experts is organised in May each year and targets media education researchers, experts and other professionals from public and private sectors.
• SuperDigiSchool: SuperDigiSchool was a newly introduced online format education programme where schools registered for a live broadcast that explored questions such as: “Where is the line for smart media use? Is social media harmful? How can we protect ourselves from scams, online bullying and harassment?”.

The youth participation efforts of the Finnish SIC is carried out by the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (MLL). In this context, the MLL facilitates a website called YouthNet which offers both participation and engagement, allowing everyone to contribute according to their own abilities. Young people are involved in the activities in various roles, and this model of youth participation allows reaching to youth across the country. In addition, MLL also facilitates a youth panel which consists of 30 young volunteers aged between 13-25. These volunteers are recruited online via YouthNet portal as well as in schools.

MLL also operates the helpline service of the Finnish SIC. The services include, children’s and Youth phone and chat, parents phone and chat, as well as the ParentNet (information hub for parents with children aged between 0 and 18). All these services are also provided within the YouthNet platform.

The hotline of the Finnish SIC is operated by Save the Children Finland (SCF) and it is the only hotline in the country. The hotline actively collaborates with the Finnish Police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as well as social services. At a regional and international level, the hotline cooperates with the Nordic hotlines, the Interpol and INHOPE. Within this context, the hotline analyse and forward reports to local authorities as necessary, but also upload them to ICCAM for the attention of other hotlines if the materials are hosted in other countries.

Luxembourg

The Luxembourgish SIC, BEE SECURE, is coordinated by the Service National de la Jeunesse (SNJ) in cooperation with the counselling service Kanner-Jugendtelefon (KJT) which operates the helpline and hotline services, in partnership with Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, the Luxembourg Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

BEE SECURE is co-financed by the European Commission but also receives funding from the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth. It is also supported by other ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Family Affairs, Solidarity, Living Together and Reception of Refugees.  

Luxembourgish SIC presentation started with a note that, while Service National de la Jeunesse (SNJ) is operating the awareness centre, Kanner-Jugendtelefon (KJT), which is mainly responsible for the helpline and the hotline, is also very much involved in the awareness raising work of the SIC.

One of the services that the BEE SECURE awareness centre offers is a series of trainings targeted at children and young people, teachers and educators as well as parents. The trainings for children and young people are offered both in schools as well as for extracurricular groups (i.e., youth houses, day care centres and so on). In addition, there are also trainings offered for teachers and educators as well as the parents.  

Besides the trainings, other activities offered by BEE SECURE include three regular activities that can be booked by schools and other educational institutions. These are:

• Code Hunters – Escape game: This recently introduced activity is a hands-on escape room experience where the participating children and young people have to solve puzzles that teaches them about various cybersecurity issues.
• DigiRallye: Twice a year, young people aged between 8-12 are invited to participate in the DigiRallye. The rally includes 10-12 educational stations animated by the SNJ and KJT as well as other national partners such as the police.
• MovieTalk: The activity is carried out in collaboration with various cinemas across Luxembourg. The activity involves the selection of a movie and facilitating a discussion on it in relation to the topics of internet safety.

Youth consultations are at the core of youth participation efforts of BEE SECURE. Young people are regularly asked to test various materials and activities of BEE SECURE, and their input also feed into the trend monitoring work of the SIC.

Another aspect of youth participation that is considered very important for BEE SECURE is sending youngsters to the BIK Youth Panel and Safer Internet Forum on a regular basis.

In the context of trend monitoring, the annual report, BEE SECURE Radar, was also highlighted to have an important impact. The perspectives and opinions of children and young people gathered from various consultations, activities and surveys feed into this report to show trends that have an effect on the online safety of children and young people.

KJT (Kanner-Jugendtelefon) operates the BEE SECURE Helpline and hotline services. Besides the BEE SECURE Helpline, The KJT runs several other consultation services, such as the national child helpline “Kannerjugendtelefon” 116 111 free number and there is a special contact for digital media issues.

In this context, the helpline counsellors also act as the analysts of the hotline service of BEE SECURE (BEE  SECURE Stopline). The public can report potentially illegal content online of specific domains: CSAM, racism, discrimination, hate speech and terrorism. BEE SECURE Stopline’s close collaboration with the Luxembourg Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office allows for effective handling of these reports.  

Further information about the Finnish and Luxembourgish Safer Internet Centres 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.