Better Internet for Kids

The 14th edition of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Panel is approaching and will culminate at Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2022 on 27 October in Brussels and online.

On 21-22 June 2022, the Digital Assembly took place in Toulouse, France. The Digital Assembly is an annual event hosted jointly by the European Commission and the holder of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). It is a key forum for members of the European digital ecosystem to gather and discuss important issues. This year’s two-day conference included workshops, panel discussions and plenary sessions focusing on issues related to EU sovereignty and autonomy. In particular, a workshop on day one focused on the newly adopted European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+). BIK Youth Ambassadors Sina and Dimitris were there to share their views.

Sitting behind INHOPE’s annual review are the various processes taken to ensure that it represents the amazing work of the network’s 50 hotlines in 46 countries which work to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.

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. Even though the COVID-19 related safety measures are getting lighter across Europe, it was still agreed by both parties that the visit to the Czech SIC would be carried out as an online meeting, which took place on 17 March 2022.

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.

The Digital Assembly takes place this week in Toulouse, France. The conference will span two days and will include workshops, panel discussions and plenary sessions focusing on issues related to EU sovereignty and autonomy. As part of the programme, a workshop will focus on the newly adopted European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+).

The whole world is shocked by Russia's attack on Ukraine and the ongoing war. What stuns adults is even more difficult for children and young people to comprehend, but it is hardly possible to keep children away from the current news and exposure to dreadful images and videos. Parents and educators face the difficult task of finding age-appropriate ways of explaining what is happening and answering questions children might have, while at the same time protecting them from harmful media experiences.

Today, 15 June 2022, the Insafe network of European Safer Internet Centres (SICs) begins a two-day training meeting online. It provides an opportunity to facilitate sharing of experience and good practice between network countries, and to explore areas of common ground and occasions for closer working between awareness raising, helpline, and youth participation strands.

To help people of all ages striving for the best digital knowledge, the Lithuanian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) consortium partner Langas į ateitį coordinated All Digital Week(s) in Lithuania. All Digital Week is an annual European campaign running since 2010 to improve digital skills in several European countries. This year in Lithuania, the campaign expanded from one to five weeks from 14 March to 14 April 2022.

The INHOPE network, a global network that fights child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, organised a webinar on proactive versus reactive hotline communication on 1 June 2022. Two senior BIK Youth Ambassadors, João Pedro Martins (Portugal) and Kathrin Morasch (Germany), were asked to share their opinions on campaigns that aim to reach young people.