Better Internet for Kids

The largest conference in Poland on online threats and safety will take place on 27-30 September 2022. Experts from all over Europe will gather to discuss a broad spectrum of issues related to the safety of children and young people on the internet. This year's conference programme will include, among other topics, excessive internet use and online-offline balance in the post-pandemic era, risky behaviour of youth, cyberbullying and hate speech online.

It is a natural instinct for parents and carers to want to protect their children from dreadful and unpleasant events, but it is instead crucial for parents to be willing and able to talk to children about wars and other emergency situations, in a child-appropriate way. The Greek Safer Internet Centre has developed a resource to assist parents, carers and educators in navigating this difficult topic with young people.

Children listen to the radio, watch TV, read articles in newspapers or online. It is not possible, nor advisable, to hide all the bad news from them. We cannot allow our children to grow up in a golden cage. They have a right to information. But how do you deal with painful subjects like terrorist attacks or wars? First, consider the age of the child. It is best to protect small children and pre-schoolers as much as possible and keep them away from images and information.

The world has been shocked by the conflict in Ukraine and the terrible events and images of recent months. At a recent Insafe Training meeting, participants from the European network of Safer Internet Centres heard first-hand about the atrocities which are occurring, and how Ukraine's children and young people are being impacted. Alona Kryvuliak and Yuliia Anosova from La Strada-Ukraine, the Ukrainian Safer Internet Centre, shared their experiences and gave insights into how the Insafe network can also help the ongoing efforts.

In May 2022, the European Commission adopted a new European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+), to improve age-appropriate digital services and to ensure that every child is protected, empowered and respected online. Ten years after the first BIK strategy, BIK+ wants to spotlight the voices and opinions of European youth.

Social media is playing an increasingly big role in our daily lives, and for many it has become the primary source of information and news. Therefore, it’s important to carefully evaluate the truthfulness of the news we read online. Fake news is becoming increasingly common, it is easily believed by a wide audience, and it is transmitted very quickly through social networks.

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.