Better Internet for Kids

Kathrin, BIK Youth Ambassador from Germany, took part in the EuroDIG 2020 (European Dialogue on Internet Governance), which took place from Wednesday, 10 June to Friday, 12 June 2020 online. Below, she shares the main take-aways of the sessions she attended.

The Safer Internet Programme was established in Romania in 2008, with funding from the European Commission (EC), in the aim of promoting the use of the internet by children and adolescents in a creative, useful and safe way. The project materialised through the partnership between Save the Children and Focus Romania, which ensured the operation of the Safernet Hotline.

In February 2020, a group of six Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Ambassadors marked Safer Internet Day (SID) by hosting a dialogue with industry members from the Alliance to better protect minors online at the European Commission (EC) on the age appropriateness of apps and services' privacy information for children and young people. Below, three of them – Matej, Kathrin and Charampoulos – look back on their experience and share their aspirations.

On Thursday, 11 June 2020, at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG 2020), the Insafe network of European Safer Internet Centres (SICs), represented by Sabrina Vorbau, Project Manager at European Schoolnet (EUN) and Youth Coordinator on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) project and Joachim Kind, Head of EU Networks at the Media Authority of Rhineland-Palatinate (LMK) and spokesperson for the German Safer Internet Centre (SIC), hosted a workshop on "Social media – opportunities, rights and responsibilities", looking at the limitations and pitfalls of freedom of speech on the internet from multiple stakeholder perspectives. In this article, Dr Nertil Bërdufi, Assistant Professor at University College Beder and Founder and Director of Beder Legal Clinic, discusses the case of Albania to highlight the societal and security impact of disinformation, as well as the governments' controversial attempt at regulating it.

On Thursday, 11 June 2020, at the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG 2020), the Insafe network of European Safer Internet Centres (SICs), represented by Sabrina Vorbau, Project Manager at European Schoolnet (EUN) and Youth Coordinator on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) project and Joachim Kind, Head of EU Networks at the Media Authority of Rhineland-Palatinate (LMK) and spokesperson for the German Safer Internet Centre (SIC), hosted a workshop on "Social media – opportunities, rights and responsibilities", looking at the limitations and pitfalls of freedom of speech on the internet from multiple stakeholder perspectives. In this article, Tanja Pavleska from the Laboratory for Open Systems and Networks, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia, examines some of the challenges encountered by the initiatives combating disinformation.

The Insafe network of helplines collects data about the types of calls received and this is analysed every three months to look at trends and new and emerging issues.

Sexual messages, pictures and videos reach young people online every day. Without the consent of the recipient, this must be classified as sexual harassment. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, communication has shifted to the digital space even more; the German Awareness Centre klicksafe offers advice for those affected and recommends that children and young people should be made aware of sexual border violations in the digital world in an age-appropriate manner.

On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) launched its new 2020 Guidelines on Child Online Protection (COP), a set of recommendations for children, parents, educators, industry and policy makers on how to contribute to the development of a safe and empowering online environment for children and young people.

The CO:RE – Children Online: Research and Evidence (CO:RE) project is a three-year long project funded by the European Commission in the framework of Horizon 2020, aiming to establish a pan-European knowledge platform on digital technologies in the lives of children and young people.

Teenagers and adults are constantly bombarded with images depicting "perfect" bodies, faces, products and relationships, making them feel inadequate and urging them to have similar lifestyles.