Insafe Weekly Update

The BIK Advisory Board provides the European Commission with a point of exchange on the ongoing implementation and future development of the BIK platform initiative and supports effective relationships between all relevant stakeholders. SIC representation in the BIK Advisory Board is through two Safer Internet Centre Coordinators, and representation is rotated annually.

The first BIK Advisory Board meeting under the new contract will take place on the morning of Wednesday, 3 December 2025, in Brussels, Belgium (the day before SIF). We are still seeking one SIC Coordinator representative. Please express your interest in participating by contacting Rima by the extended deadline of the close of business on Friday, 10 October 2025.  
 
We take this opportunity to thank the Coordinators of SIC Croatia and SIC Sweden for proudly representing the network on the Board last year. 

The European Commission's call for evidence and public consultation on the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act continues.

The Digital Fairness Act will strengthen protection and digital fairness for consumers, while ensuring a level playing field and simplifying rules for businesses in the EU. It will address specific challenges as well as harmful practices that consumers face online, such as deceptive or manipulative interface design, misleading marketing by social media influencers, addictive design of digital products and unfair personalisation practices, especially where consumer vulnerabilities are exploited for commercial purposes. Young people are an important consumer segment with specific consumption patterns and often act as early adopters of new technologies and digital products. The Digital Fairness Act will pay particular attention to the protection of minors online.

The call for evidence and public consultation will be open until the extended deadline of Friday, 24 October 2025 (midnight Brussels time)and are available on the Have Your Say portal. For more information, please refer to the dedicated press release.

Assessment platform submissions are now due for helplines and hotlines reporting on the third quarter of 2025 (July to September inclusive). The deadline for both helpline and hotline submissions will be the close of business on Friday, 10 October 2025. 

Please note that the template includes an additional question asking whether a helpline or hotline is a designated trusted flagger under the DSA. For those who are, two additional questions are provided to capture when the trusted flagger status was awarded and how many notices have been submitted during this quarter.  

To reflect these small changes, an updated Excel template for helplines is now available in the BIK community (login first). A reminder that the Good practice guide on helpline data (March 2023) can also be accessed in the BIK community. For further information, please contact Karl (EUN/helplines).  

Equally, an updated Excel template for hotlines is now available in the BIK community (login first). Please contact Abby (INHOPE/hotlines) for any queries regarding hotline submissions.    

Please remember that these submissions must be made using the assessment platform in the new BIK community. If you encounter issues accessing the platform or need to assign reporting permissions to new or different staff members, please contact the BIK support mailbox. 

The Insafe Training meeting will take place next week on 14, 15 and 16 October 2025. Everyone who has registered will receive the meeting booklet later this week, which includes the final agenda. There is still time to register if you plan to attend. Please contact Karl if you need any further information.

The Insafe Steering Committee meeting will take place on Friday, 17 October 2025, from 13:30 to 16:00 CEST. For any questions regarding the Steering Committee, please contact Rima.

With a record number of submitted entries, it is now time to cast your votes and choose your favourite entry to win the Insafe resource competition! Many thanks to all the SICs that have submitted an entry for this edition of the competition, and for participating in the vote. 

Find the catalogue of entries here and vote for your favourite here by the close of business on Thursday, 9 October 2025.

For questions regarding the resource competition, please contact Karl or Annarita.  

This online meeting will take place on Thursday, 30 October 2025 at 11:00 CET. SafeToNet have developed “groundbreaking AI that, when embedded into the operating system of a device, stops a child from seeing or producing sexual content”. They are working with a number of organisations globally, including the eSafety commissioner in Australia, the Deutscher Bundestag, the European Parliament, and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. They will explain more about the device and how it works, along with future plans. You can use this link to join the meeting. Please contact Karl if you have any questions or require additional information.  

This online meeting will take place on Monday, 15 December 2025 at 11:00 CET. During the meeting, we will hear from colleagues at the Swedish SIC and Linköping University, who will share reports and research from Sweden. You can use this link to join the meeting. Please contact Karl for further information. 

Many thanks to everyone who joined the recent meeting. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first). For further information, please contact Karl.

A reminder that the good practice guide on working with very young users is available for download here.

In the September edition of the Youth Participation Working Group, SIC LU presented the results of their BEE SECURE Radar 2025.

The 2025 edition of the Radar explored emerging topics like AI, media literacy, and the impact of smartphones in schools, while raising awareness about the Digital Services Act (DSA). Consultations with youth, parents, and teachers were conducted through surveys and training sessions. Findings revealed generational differences in risk perception: adults are more concerned about screen time, while young people are more concerned about harmful content. Cyberbullying, however, was a shared concern across all groups. Views on AI were different, as youth saw potential, while adults were more cautious. Findings also show that there was a strong agreement on the need for age verification and a collective call for safer, better-regulated digital spaces. 

For further information, please contact Chiara or Carolina.

There will be a meeting for any SIC that has been designated as a trusted flagger under the DSA. A colleague from the European Commission’s trusted flagger team at DG CNECT will speak, and there will also be an opportunity to share experiences and best practices as well as to ask questions. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, 21 October 2025 at 11:00 CEST; use this link to join the meeting. For further information, please contact Karl.

Many thanks to everyone who attended the last helpline early warning meeting. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first).

The next early warning meeting for helplines will take place on Wednesday, 29 October 2025 at 11:00 CET; join the meeting using this link. Please remember it is possible to use the Teams chat to share any information between meetings.

Please contact Karl for any further information on helpline early warning meetings.

Many thanks to everyone who attended the recent awareness early warning meeting. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first).

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place on Wednesday, 12 November 2025 at 11:00 CET; use this link to join. Please remember it is possible to use the Teams chat to share any information between meetings.

Please contact Karl for any further information on awareness early warning meetings.

Dr Cosmin Nada from the University Institute of Lisbon will present some research evidence on the impact of digital tools on well-being, along with Portuguese recommendations from DGE (the Ministry of Education in Portugal). Dr Nada is also part of the ENESET network, which is producing a report for the European Commission focusing on mobile phone bans in schools across Europe, and will share some of the research findings. The meeting will take place on Thursday, 11 December 2025 at 11:00 CET; use this link to join. For further information, please contact Karl. 

The European School Education Platform, the meeting point for the school education community and home to eTwinning, the online community for schools in Europe, provides access to a wide range of online resources and courses for educators, with a strong focus on digital skills, media literacy, and safe internet use. 

In line with its mission, and with the priorities of the EU to prevent and address cyberbullying, the Platform is planning an online interview (video) with an expert on cyberbullying. The interview will focus on practical approaches to preventing cyberbullying in schools and will primarily target teachers, as well as other stakeholders in general school education. 

Given the strong expertise of Safer Internet Centres in this field, we warmly encourage you to nominate an internal expert (or express your own interest) to take part. This is a great opportunity to highlight the important role that SICs play in tackling cyberbullying and to share your knowledge directly with the education community. 

Following the Commission’s approval of the selected speaker, the interview will be recorded by the end of October/early November 2025 and published on the European School Education Platform, as well as its YouTube channel. 

Please send your nominations to Carolina by the close of business on Friday, 10 October 2025. 

The “DSA for YOUth - Protecting minors by design” campaign seeks to raise awareness of the Article 28 guidelines on protecting minors online under the Digital Services Act (DSA), helping children, parents, teachers, and caregivers understand how new guidelines on age verification, privacy, and safety-by-design features make the online world safer and more transparent.

• Timeline: The campaign will run in phases from 15 September to 7 November 2025. The teaser phase is just drawing to an end; the active launch will commence on Friday, aligned with the informal meeting of Ministers for Telecommunication on 9-10 October 2025 (as part of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union).
• Campaign outputs: The campaign will deliver a wide range of outputs, including a family-friendly booklet on the Art. 28 guidelines, an online toolkit, youth-created videos, webinars, and SIC insight articles, supported by a multi-platform social media campaign and influencer collaborations. 

Stay tuned - the DSA for YOUth online toolkit and the family-friendly booklet will go live this Friday, as we launch the active campaign phase.

Look out for posts across the project's social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook and X), and please comment, share, and repost, or feel free to use this promo pack to support spreading the campaign messaging. An updated promo pack will be shared next week.

In the meantime, please contact Inna with any questions or suggestions on the campaign. 

EUN is organising, on behalf of the European Commission, an online focus group on the Action plan against cyberbullying on Thursday, 30 October 2025 from 18:00 to 20:00 CET.

Building on the findings from the recent targeted and public consultations, the focus group will seek to gather the views and opinions of young people and other stakeholders on the draft EU common definition of cyberbullying, as well as on a range of preliminary ideas to address it, that may be included in the action plan. The focus group will also provide an opportunity to assess whether these ideas effectively address the concerns of the different groups of participants. 

We are looking for eight parents/caregivers and eight teachers/educators from your national networks who could attend this focus group and actively participate in the discussion (in English). Participants will be selected to ensure a good geographical spread across the network. 

Please nominate parents/caregivers and teachers/educators from your networks by contacting Carolina by the close of business on Friday, 10 October 2025. Your nominations will directly contribute to shaping the EU’s efforts to combat cyberbullying. 

From group chats to gaming servers, today’s youth connect, learn and grow through online relationships. But alongside connection comes some risks: cyberbullying, grooming, peer pressure, and more.

This new BIK MOOC (massive open online course), Helping kids build and manage healthy online relationships, offers practical guidance for educators, youth workers, and caregivers to navigate these challenges with care and confidence. Starting today, Monday, 6 October 2025 and continuing across 5 self-paced weeks, course participants can explore real strategies, discover ready-made tools, and join a European community of professionals facing similar challenges. The MOOC will be delivered in English.

Further information and online registration are available here.

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to continue sharing information on the BIK MOOC with their own networks and contacts. Registration remains open, even though the MOOC has now started.
A promo pack is available to support SICs with this (with sample texts, social media posts, and visuals). 

As you may already be aware, Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2025 will take place in a hybrid format in Brussels and online on Thursday, 4 December 2025, with a title of Why age matters: Protecting and empowering youth in the digital age.

The BIK Youth Panel will also convene in Brussels during that week, and we know that many of you will be sending a youth representative along with a corresponding chaperone from your Safer Internet Centre.

As in recent years, due to capacity restrictions at the venue and in line with the EC’s green agenda, we need to limit in-person attendance at the Safer Internet Forum to TWO colleagues from each Safer Internet Centre (this will typically be the SIC Coordinator (or their designate) and the youth chaperone (if this is someone from your SIC)). Online participation is available for colleagues who are unable to attend in person; there are no restrictions on the number of online attendees.

Registration will commence soon. We will contact SIC coordinators this week to further elaborate on the schedule for the week and the corresponding registration process, and ask you to confirm the names of your two in-person attendees.

In case of questions in the meantime, please contact saferinternetforum@betterinternetforkids.eu.

The September 2025 edition of the BIK bulletin has recently been published.

This edition highlights new European Commission initiatives, including guidelines under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to better protect minors online and the launch of the “DSA for YOUth” campaign with family-friendly resources and activities. It also explores the EU’s age verification blueprint, promotes free online training on healthy digital relationships, and shares the latest updates from Safer Internet Centres, while inviting readers to mark Safer Internet Day 2026.

Visit the BIK portal for the bulletin archive, or subscribe to receive future editions directly. 

• Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Cybersecurity Agency and the Greek Safer Internet Centre to strengthen cybersecurity in Greece (SIC GR)

Access the full BIK news article archive here.

Please contact the BIK content mailbox with any article submissions or if you have any queries.

A reminder that reports from online meetings for awareness centres and helplines are now available in the BIK community.

Safer Internet Centres have been busy uploading resources to the BIK community resource repository: explore or upload your SIC's resources here (alternatively, access the public resource directory here).

Equally, SICs have been uploading new helpline case studies: explore or upload your SIC's case studies here.

Please remember to log in to access these links.

Need help with the BIK platform?
Please refer to the BIK platform user guides for support with regular tasks (such as resource and helpline case study uploads).

Alternatively, we are happy to schedule short online support calls at any time. Please use the contact form on the BIK platform or contact the BIK support mailbox initially. We will then schedule a call at a mutually convenient time.

Please note the updated URLs for the new BIK platform:

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK):
  better-internet-for-kids. europa.eu; #BIK; #BIKbulletin
• BIK strategy (BIK+):
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/bik/bik-plus-strategy; #BIKplus
• Safer Internet Forum (SIF):
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/sif; #SIF2025; #SaferInternetForum
• BIK Knowledge hub:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/knowledge-hub; #BIKPolicyMap
• BIK Youth:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/bik-youth; #BIKyouth
• Safer Internet Day (SID):
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/saferinternetday; #SaferInternetDay; #SID2025; #SID2026
• DSA for YOUth campaign:
  #DSAforYOUth; #DSA
• Project Facebook profiles:
  Insafe, Safer Internet Day, Insafe network closed Facebook group, INHOPE
• Project X (formerly Twitter) profiles:
  @insafenetwork; @safeinternetday; @BIK_youth; @inhope_pr
• Project LinkedIn profile:
  Better Internet for Kids