Introduction

Three years following its adoption on 11 May 2022, the European strategy for a better internet for Kids (BIK+) has undergone its first full evaluation. In line with the commitment to conduct a youth-centred evaluation every two years, the first review of the BIK+ strategy was published in May 2025, coinciding with its third anniversary.

Following its adoption on 11 May 2022, the European strategy for a better internet for Kids (BIK+) has undergone its first full evaluation. In line with the commitment to conduct periodic youth-centred evaluations, the first review of the BIK+ strategy was published in May 2025. This evaluation highlights both achievements and challenges since the strategy's adoption. Together with the recently released 2025 edition of the now annual BIK Policy monitor (the reporting tool utilised to assess the implementation of the BIK+ strategy in EU Member States), both studies provide a substantial body of evidence regarding the impact of this comprehensive strategy and offer an opportunity to reflect on issues related to monitoring and evaluation in a rapidly evolving policy landscape.

The significant consultation activities carried out for both studies add a further dimension to the already extensive communication and outreach that characterise the BIK programme. Safer Internet Day, the BIK Youth programme, and Safer Internet Centre awareness activities all seek to raise awareness of the vision and key tenets of BIK+. Key messages include that children’s protection, empowerment, and active participation are essential for respecting their rights in the digital environment, and that these aspects, represented in the three pillars of BIK+, need to be viewed holistically and as inextricably linked. The purpose of evaluation is, of course, to assess the extent to which this messaging has been successful and the degree to which the underlying BIK+ vision has carried through to stakeholders’ responses and policies at the national level. 

In this edition of the BIK bulletin, we focus on key findings from these vital evaluation exercises, highlighting both the main points of feedback and exploring how monitoring and evaluation can be further integrated into BIK implementation activities.

Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation are integral components of the policy development process, ensuring that policies are grounded in trustworthy evidence and deliver the desired outcomes. Feedback gained from these processes can help to check against the reality of the situation and provide opportunities for adapting implementation and delivery as needed.

The EU’s Better Regulation agenda has long served as the standard for how the EU delivers and supports evidence-based policies and laws, tailored to the needs of EU citizens, businesses, and civil society. More recently, simplification and better implementation have been added as key priorities in all European Commission-initiated activities. The EC’s Political Guidelines identify this as being at the heart of European competitiveness.

A brief overview of the European child online safety programmes

By way of background, the BIK+ strategy is the latest policy initiative to reflect the EU’s long-standing commitment to protecting and empowering children and young people online, a commitment also well reflected in the Digital Service Act (DSA). Tracing its origins to the late 1990s, a timeline of this EU policy domain includes:

Action Plan for a Safer Internet (1999–2004)

Launched in response to growing concerns over harmful internet content, the first Safer Internet Action Plan (1999–2004) aimed to promote safer online environments through self-regulation, technical innovation, public awareness, and cross-border cooperation. It funded key initiatives, such as dotSAFE and EUN_CLE, and was later complemented by the i2010 strategy to promote a secure and inclusive digital society. The programme laid the foundation for EU leadership in online safety, especially for children.

Safer Internet Programme – Safer Internet Plus (2005–2008)

The second phase, Safer Internet Plus, expanded efforts to tackle illegal and harmful online content, promoting safer digital spaces, particularly for children. It supported networks like Insafe and INHOPE, as well as research projects such as EU Kids Online and MEDIAPPRO. The programme also introduced tools for benchmarking parental controls and engaged stakeholders in shaping self-regulatory frameworks, reinforcing the EU’s commitment to both child protection and digital literacy.

Safer Internet Programme (2009–2013)

Building on earlier initiatives, the third Safer Internet Programme emphasised public awareness, safe environments, and robust research on emerging online risks. It supported influential projects, such as EU Kids Online, ROBERT, and the European Online Grooming Project, alongside new networks like eNACSO and POSCON. The programme aligned closely with broader EU policies, including research initiatives and the Daphne Programme, enhancing collaboration across domains of online safety and child protection.

Better Internet for Kids (2014–ongoing)

The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) initiative, established under the 2012 BIK strategy, marked a shift toward empowering children as active digital participants while maintaining protections. Originally funded through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and currently through the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), BIK supports national Safer Internet Centres (SICs) and the BIK platform. INHOPE and Insafe play key roles. The updated BIK+ strategy, adopted in 2022, aligns with the EU’s Digital Principles and the broader strategy on the rights of the child, reinforcing a rights-based, child-centric approach to internet safety in the Digital Decade.

A youth-centred evaluation of the BIK+ strategy

The BIK+ strategy stipulates an evaluation, carried out as a child-led activity, every two years (p.16). The primary objective of the evaluation is to review and assess the progress and success of the BIK+ strategy since its adoption in May 2022, identify emerging risks and new challenges, and propose actionable recommendations for improvement.

For the first evaluation of the BIK+ strategy, the principles and general approach of the Better Regulation agenda provided the starting point and overall guiding framework for the activity. In other words, key objectives for the evaluation included assessing the effectiveness and relevance of the strategy as perceived by diverse interested stakeholders, as well as its coherence and added value alongside other EU initiatives. 

Key principles from the Better Regulation guidelines and toolbox adopted as part of reviewing, monitoring and evaluating BIK+, comprise:

• inclusiveness, ensuring participation of all relevant stakeholders and diverse approaches to consultation;
• openness and transparency both through the consultation process and dissemination of outcomes;
• effectiveness by ensuring the inclusion of all key stakeholder groups and networks; and
• coherence as defined by the objectives and goals of the BIK+ strategy.

However, this general approach required adaptation to the particular context of this evaluation, which, in this instance, involved the specific dynamics of a youth-centred process.

The EU strategy on the rights of the child provides the wider framework for the actions of the EU and its Member States. It fundamentally informed all stages of the development and implementation of this first evaluation of the BIK+ strategy.

The evaluation of the BIK+ strategy used a qualitative, focus group-style approach that centred on the rights and experiences of children and young people. It was designed to be inclusive, safe, and transparent. Young participants helped shape the consultation questions alongside BIK Youth Ambassadors. Between September 2024 and March 2025, over 750 children and young people (aged 6–18) from 22 European countries participated, along with 59 experts from various fields and 303 educators and caregivers from 20 countries. The same child-friendly methodology was used for engaging all participant groups, ensuring consistency and depth.

The multi-stakeholder activity aimed to gather input from all key stakeholders to gain a complete picture of the strategy’s progress, gaps, and emerging challenges. According to participants in the evaluation, BIK+ has improved online safety through better tools and awareness, but children still face harmful content, scams, cyberbullying, and privacy threats. Participants highlighted the need for clearer policies, stronger digital education (especially for adults who support children), and improved access for those in remote or underserved areas. The evaluation also heard a strong call for children and young people to have a bigger role in shaping their digital world.

This evaluation was distinct in its youth-centred and rights-based approach, grounded in best practices outlined in the 2021 BIK guidelines on children’s rights in the digital environment. Special care was taken to include voices from marginalised and vulnerable groups, ensuring a wide range of perspectives. The evaluation also issued a series of meaningful, practical recommendations to not only improve policy-making but also contribute to standards for involving children in shaping safer digital spaces.

Policy monitoring: a continuing exercise

Monitoring implementation, along with evaluating outcomes, has been a crucial aspect of both the BIK+ strategy and the original BIK strategy from the outset. Providing a brief overview of the background for introducing policy monitoring as an integral part of BIK offers a useful context for understanding this process more clearly.

In November 2014, the first independent study of the impact of the BIK strategy was published. Titled "Benchmarking of Safer Internet policies in Member States and policy indicators", the study, carried out by IDATE and Technopolis, offered the first detailed analysis of how European Union countries, Iceland, and Norway addressed online safety for children. The main objective of the 2014 IDATE study was to provide a comprehensive and thorough analysis of how the challenges concerning children online are met and addressed in policies and initiatives across Europe, and to develop a sustainable benchmarking tool, subsequently referred to as the “BIK Map”, or Better Internet for Kids (BIK) benchmarking tool.

“Benchmarking” in this context might be a misleading term in that the principal aim of the BIK Map was to improve the understanding of BIK policies and initiatives in the EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway, and to facilitate the exchange of experiences on both good and less efficient BIK policies and actions. The study's intent was explicitly not to identify the “best” country model, but rather to act as a tool for learning, leading to increased policy intelligence for both the European Commission and national policymakers, ultimately improving policy-making and implementation. It aimed to identify emerging patterns, models, and approaches taken by EU countries in their BIK-related policies and initiatives, providing a visual representation and collecting qualitative information. This study also served to establish a baseline for future policy mapping or benchmarking exercises, something that has been integrated into the current BIK Policy monitor.

This objective differed significantly from previous evaluation studies of the Safer Internet Programme in several ways. The 2014 IDATE study focused on comparing and understanding the approaches taken at the national level by individual Member States regarding their own policies and initiatives for Better Internet for Kids. It examined the quality of policy governance and the implementation of actions and initiatives within countries. In contrast, earlier evaluations (for example, periodic evaluations conducted in 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2012) primarily focused on assessing the effectiveness and impact of the European Union's Safer Internet Action Plan/Programme itself. These evaluations assessed the relevance of the programme's objectives, its methods of implementation, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, utility, sustainability, and causal links between its resources and impacts with the aim of determining whether the EU-funded programme's objectives were met. In other words, while previous evaluations aimed to assess the performance and impact of interventions (and assess the need for further interventions), the approach under BIK shifted to understanding the diverse landscape of national policies and initiatives related to children's online safety across Europe, with the goal of facilitating knowledge sharing, mutual learning and improved policy design at both national and European levels.

Another important legacy of the 2014 IDATE study was to highlight the significance of the policy process in understanding the similarities and differences between countries. This focus, therefore, called attention to the design, governance, and implementation aspects of national efforts, rather than simply assessing the effectiveness of overarching EU-level policies (while noting where and how they have had an impact). For example, notions of policy governance were assessed, understood as the relative maturity of policy frameworks aligned with BIK-related themes and levels of coordination in line with international standards and good practices more generally. It also focused on approaches to practical implementation by comparing the scope and breadth of activities carried out under the BIK umbrella, and examining the role and involvement of various stakeholders, including the public sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), internet service providers (ISPs), and mobile operators. Notably, the key role of Safer Internet Centres (SICs) in coordinating actions and initiatives within Member States was a significant finding, thereby underlining, from an evaluation perspective, the substantial EU added value of the intervention.

Many of these elements were subsequently incorporated into the policy mapping activity, which has been coordinated by EUN on behalf of the European Commission since 2016. The second BIK Policy map reportin 2018 refined the BIK tool/questionnaire/methodology, (re)defining the data collection and validation process, validating and analysing the available data, while sharing, discussing and communicating key findings in a compelling manner – through the BIK platform – with a diverse European audience of public and private stakeholders. With the third iteration in 2020, the BIK Policy map tool was further developed, allowing for greater comparability and more robust findings in the analysis of national policies in EU Member States regarding provision for children’s online safety and well-being. This was achieved by refining the indicators used in the BIK Policy map tool and reorganising the methodology for data collection. Meanwhile, the fourth edition, published in 2023, further refined the approach to analysing Member States’ approaches by drawing on the “collective impact” model of social change. Individual country profiles were developed to capture BIK policy development from a grassroots perspective. Work also commenced on reconfiguring the BIK Policy map tool indicators to align with the updated BIK+ framework of three pillars.

The most recent changes have taken place under the latest phase of the Better Internet for Kids platform initiative (2023-2025). Notably, this has led to the launch of the BIK Knowledge hub, substantially broadening the scope and ambition of the policy mapping line of activity. The BIK Knowledge Hub now provides a central access point for information, evidence, policy, and practice insights that support the monitoring of the impact of digital transformation on children’s well-being. While continuing to inform the European Commission’s policy work, the central profile of the BIK Policy monitor within the BIK public-facing portal addresses and benefits a wide range of online safety stakeholders in the EU and beyond. Now issued annually and published to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption of the BIK+ strategy in May each year, the Policy monitor has become a crucial mechanism to view and assess developments in a dynamic and rapidly evolving policy environment.

Building a comprehensive picture

Findings from the first evaluation of the BIK+ strategy and the latest edition of the BIK Policy monitor come at an important time for children’s online safety and participation in the digital environment. Children’s online safety and well-being have been highlighted as priorities in the EC’s Political Guidelines with commitments towards taking action on some of the persistent challenges, such as cyberbullying, addictive design, and negative effects on mental health. The issuing of draft guidelines on the protection of minors online under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), further underscores the priority for protecting minors' safety, security, privacy and well-being. In this context, both studies contribute valuable feedback from all stakeholder groups regarding the effectiveness of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) strategy to date, highlighting significant progress while also identifying challenges and gaps.

Evidence from diverse stakeholder groups in both studies acknowledges the "significant strides" made by BIK+ in advancing a better internet for children and young people. The BIK Policy monitor demonstrates, for example, the strong overarching commitment in all EU Member States, Iceland, and Norway, evident in national policies and actions. Professional stakeholders recognise its importance in setting a unified framework for child online safety across the EU, with the three-pillar structure (safe digital experiences, digital empowerment, and active participation) regarded as a "very clear framework". The recognition of children's rights in the digital environment is also regarded as a "key strength" and "significant achievement" of the BIK+ strategy, with the strategy also recognised as being "particularly successful in mobilising youth participation," ensuring young people's voices are increasingly heard and considered in digital policy.

Despite progress, participants in the evaluation consultation were clear that "more needs to be done to address emerging risks" such as increased exposure to harmful content, mental health impacts, privacy concerns, monetisation of online activities, and the persistent issue of cyberbullying. Children continue to highlight challenges like harmful content, online scams, and privacy violations. Awareness of the BIK+ strategy itself remains limited among both parents and teachers, and many adults feel "underprepared" and "overwhelmed" by the rapid pace of digital change and emerging technologies like AI (artificial intelligence). Moreover, current safety measures were widely questioned, noting, for example, that age verification methods are often bypassed, and that terms and conditions of online services are rarely read or understood by both children and adults due to their length and complexity. Many children are also unaware of specific laws or rules aimed at making the internet safer for them.

It is also interesting to observe that both sources offer broadly consistent recommendations for the future development of BIK+, while differing in their level of detail, given their distinct purposes. For example, both studies strongly advocate for deepening meaningful youth participation in relation to policies and decision-making processes, ensuring children's voices are actively sought, heard, and integrated. Consistent with the underpinning of children's rights in the BIK+ strategy, both studies underscore the importance of prioritising the explicit recognition and implementation of children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, aligning with international standards such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Similarly, both sources recommend further encouraging and supporting the development and dissemination of child-friendly versions of key policy documents and initiatives to enhance children's understanding and engagement with relevant policies. Notably, both studies also highlight the need to strengthen research and evidence, emphasising the importance of gathering regular and representative data on children's online experiences to inform policy development and evaluation. Finally, both stress the importance of continuously monitoring emerging digital trends, policies, and actions to ensure the strategy remains relevant and effective in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Participants in the BIK+ evaluation specifically note the challenges posed by AI tools, for which more evidence is needed and further guidance sought.

An overriding response articulated by many stakeholders was for a greater and more sustained emphasis on digital education and literacy. Despite the presence of many initiatives noted in the 2025 Policy monitor report, educators expressed the need for more support, such as centrally organised, regular, and free teacher training on online safety and digital citizenship to be regularised as part of their work time. Both educators and caregivers emphasised the importance of increased focus on parental involvement and capacity building through straightforward, clear, and practical guidance, as well as accessible workshops, acknowledging that many parents often feel unprepared. They also highlighted specific content issues such as AI literacy, media literacy (such as  deepfakes), privacy management, and cross-generational learning.

Conclusion

The publication of the first evaluation of the BIK+ strategy and the latest BIK Policy monitor highlight the critical importance of continuous monitoring and evaluation in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. These activities are integral to sound policy development, ensuring that initiatives like BIK+ remain grounded in trustworthy evidence, promote accountability, and foster greater trust in governance processes. The evaluation process has generated extensive feedback, which is appropriately youth-centred and supported by diverse stakeholder groups. Along with the expert perspectives shared in the Policy monitor, there are valuable insights into not just the BIK strategy's impact but also how Member States are contributing more generally to a better internet for children and youth. A noteworthy and positive outcome is that a common vision for a safer, more empowering, and respectful digital environment for children is widely shared. The BIK+ strategy represents a crucial expression of this vision, and as such, building further awareness of its key principles and closely monitoring its impact is essential in guiding the further development of this agenda. 

Authors

Brian O’Neill, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Technological University Dublin, is an independent research and policy expert specialising in digital technologies, online safety and digital policies related to children and the digital environment. He is the lead policy expert coordinating the development and refinement of the BIK Knowledge hub and the annual policy-reviewing activity, the BIK Policy monitor, together with Valentina Dopona.  

Valentina Dopona, M.A., policy and evidence expert and BIK Knowledge hub coordinator, joined the Digital Citizenship Team in early 2023. In her role within the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) project, she focuses on policy, research, evaluation, and evidence-based communication. She collaborates with Brian O’Neill, coordinating the BIK Knowledge hub and BIK Policy monitor.