Better Internet for Kids

The first Digital Services Act Stakeholder event took place on 27 June 2023, in Brussels and online, marking a significant milestone in shaping the future of digital services in the European Union. It provided a valuable opportunity for stakeholders to engage with the European Commission and contribute their insights for the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

On 26-28 April 2023, Meta - in collaboration with Think Young - organised an EU Youth Design Jam in Brussels, where young participants from across Europe gathered to address digital safety and privacy concerns. The event offered an invaluable opportunity for youth to collaborate, learn from industry professionals, and contribute their perspectives to shaping a safer online environment. Among the passionate participants were two Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Ambassadors: Adrian from Spain and Molly from Ireland, who shared their experiences and insights gained during the Youth Design Jam.

According to a study conducted by Telia and Norstat in October-November 2022 about the online privacy of children and young people, half of Estonian children are most concerned about having their passwords stolen and having pictures and videos shared of them without their consent.

As part of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Quality Assurance Programme (QAP), the Insafe-INHOPE Coordination Teams are jointly conducting a set of fourteen 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 the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) policy. On 20-21 February 2023, an online cluster meeting with the Latvian and Lithuanian SICs was organised by the Insafe-INHOPE Coordination Team.

Safer Internet Day (SID) has become a global landmark event in the online safety calendar with 2023 being its 20th year. Safer Internet Day is an EU wide initiative to promote a safer internet for all users, especially young people.

Every child using the internet deserves a safe experience and easy access to online safety and protection resources. An estimated 240 million children worldwide (one in every ten children) live with disabilities, according to data released by UNICEF. Out of these, more than 120 million children are active online. Unfortunately, the existing digital safeguards, educational resources and reporting systems were not designed to appropriately support and protect those with disabilities.

ChatGPT is particularly popular among students. By integrating the chatbot service as "My AI" in Snapchat, access is now even easier, and the AI has become a constant companion on the smartphone.

As part of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Quality Assurance Programme (QAP), the Insafe-INHOPE Coordination Teams are jointly conducting a set of fourteen 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 the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) policy. On 30-31 March 2023, an online cluster meeting with the Portuguese and Spanish SICs was organised by the Insafe-INHOPE Coordination Team.

iSIGURT.al, the national platform for a safe internet in Albania, which also functions as the national line for children's internet safety, is a national service established by CRCA/ECPAT Albania in 2015. It has as its main mission the reporting and removal of harmful materials on the internet, social networks and online media that contain sexual violence against children and adolescents, bullying and extreme violence against children and young people, as well as the language of hate crimes.

Deepfake videos have not only become one of the most effective tools of misinformation, but they also pose a significant problem for women and underage girls, who are either at risk or have already been victims of non-consensual pornography.