Insafe Weekly Update

The new call “Ensuring comprehensive geographical coverage of the Network of Safer Internet Centres (SICs)” has been published. The planned opening date is Tuesday, 21 April 2026; the submission deadline is Thursday, 1 October 2026 (17:00 Brussels time).

All relevant information is available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

The European Union wants apps, websites, games and social media to be fair and safe for children. To help make this happen, children and teenagers (aged 12 to 17) are invited to share their views on the Digital Fairness Act through an online survey. The survey is available until Monday, 26 April 2026 and is available in all EU languages.

Read more about the consultation on the Children's Participation Platform.

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to share this information with their own youth panels, and wider national contacts and networks.

The recording of last week's EC presentation on the EU Action plan against cyberbullying is now available.

Discover more about the action plan on the EC website:

• European Commission press release
• Action plan against cyberbullying
• Factsheet on the Action plan against cyberbullying

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to assess the impact of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and explore options for its review. The consultation is organised in four distinct pillars: scope and enforcement, audiovisual commercial communications, protection of viewers, and strengthening of media diversity in the internal market.

Feedback is invited from across the spectrum, including citizens, Member State authorities, companies and industry, consumer organisations, non-governmental organisations (including media freedom organisations), associations of journalists, and academic institutions.

The consultation is open until Friday, 1 May 2026. Submissions can be made in any of the EU's official languages.

The Assessment Working Group (AWG) took place today - Tuesday, 7 April 2026 at 14:00 CEST, ahead of the upcoming joint Insafe-INHOPE training meeting.

The meeting included:

• A roundtable to highlight the assessment and evaluation work carried out by the SICs since the previous meeting.
• Brainstorm on the involvement of SICs and on targeted consultations towards children and young people.
• Discussion on possible future revisions to the Assessment Platform awareness data collection format and frequency.

Notes will follow in due course. For any questions in the meantime, please contact Eray and Francesco.

Assessment platform submissions for helplines and hotlines reporting on the first quarter of 2026 (January to March inclusive) are due by the close of business on Friday, 10 April 2026. Templates are available from the BIK community (login first).

For questions, please contact Karl for helpline submissions and INHOPE for hotline submissions.

As you know, the joint Insafe-INHOPE training meeting will take place in Latvia on Wednesday,15 and Thursday, 16 April 2026. The meeting will be held at the Baltic Beach Hotel in Jūrmala near Riga, and will start at 13:00 on Wednesday, 15 April, with two optional sessions on Wednesday morning: an overview of the Latvian helpline and a “Method Market” focusing on how to use gamification in educational work with Gen Z and Alpha generations.

Registration is now closed; anyone with registration queries should contact Karl in the first instance. Registered participants will receive the customary training meeting booklet by email in the coming days.

Exceptionally, the plenary sessions from the joint Insafe-INHOPE training meeting will be livestreamed. Further information will be shared in next Monday's Weekly Update.

If you have any questions or need any further information about the training meeting, please contact Karl.

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Please note that the Insafe Steering Committee meeting, which typically takes place on the Friday after the training meeting, will now take place online on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST. The meeting is open to SIC Coordinators (or their designees) only. The link has been shared directly via the SC mailing list. In case of questions, please contact Rima in the first instance.

It is now time to cast your votes and choose your favourite entry to win the joint Insafe-INHOPE training meeting resource competition! Many thanks to all the SICs and hotlines who have submitted entries for this edition of the competition.

Vote for your favourite here (where you will also find the catalogue of entries) by the close of business on Thursday, 9 April 2026.

For any questions, please contact Karl or Annarita.

The remaining key dates for the resource competition are as follows:

“Best SIC Resource of the Year” award: as in the previous edition of the resource competition, the winning entry and the runner-up from this edition will automatically be selected to compete for this additional award.

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

The next meeting will take place on Monday, 11 May at 11:00 CEST; use this link to join.

Please remember that you can use the Teams chat to share information between meetings. A reminder also that reports and recordings from all previous meetings are available from the BIK community (login first).

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

There will be a meeting with colleagues from OpenAI on Tuesday, 21 April 2026, from 17:15-18:00 CEST. Apologies for the late start – OpenAI colleagues from the US West Coast are attending, and after a lot of back-and-forth, we agreed on this as a compromise. If you have any specific questions or issues that you would like them to address during the meeting, please let Karl know, as we want to ensure that the session is as useful as possible. You can use this link to join the meeting, which will take place on Google Meet rather than the usual Teams.

For further information, please contact Karl.

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, 22 April 2026 at 12:00 CEST – please note the different start time. Use this link to join the meeting.

A report from the last meeting, with a link to the recording, is available from the BIK community (login first).

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

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2026 at 11.00 CET; access the meeting using this link. A reminder that you can find reports from previous youth coordinator meetings in the BIK community (login first).

For further information, please contact Chiara and Carolina.

There will be a meeting with the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on Thursday, 21 May 2026 at 11:00 CEST. CCDH is a not-for-profit NGO that aims to hold social media and AI companies accountable for the online harm that is encountered on their platforms. They conduct research and run campaigns to raise awareness of some of the problems; find more information here. Use this link to join the meeting. The meeting will particularly focus on their research into AI chatbots, available here (AI chatbots assisting users in planning violent attacks) and here (how ChatGPT betrays vulnerable teens by encouraging dangerous behaviour).

For further information, please contact Karl.

The March 2026 edition of the BIK bulletin has recently been published.

This edition highlights outcomes from the recent edition of Safer Internet Day. To coincide with the celebrations, the European Commission adopted the EU Action plan against cyberbullying, which will drive forward actions to protect Europe's children online. Correspondingly, the BIK Knowledge hub insights series took a deep dive into cyberbullying, drawing on information, evidence, and policy insights from safer internet services across the EU.

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

Recently published articles include:

• BEE SECURE Radar 2026: report on the use of technologies by young people in Luxembourg (SIC LU)
• New materials for educators and parents on artificial intelligence and its effects on the lives of children and young people (SIC DE)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 activities in Estonia (SIC EE)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 in Bulgaria (SIC BG)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 in Cyprus: together for a better internet (SIC CY)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 in France: promoting young people’s digital well-being (SIC FR)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 in Slovakia (SIC SK)
• Safer Internet Day 2026 in the Netherlands: harmful but lawful content (SIC NL)
• The Croatian Safer Internet Centre opens its fourth office (SIC HR)
• The Swedish youth panel hosts a roundtable discussion on the internet and democracy (SIC SE)
• When generative AI enters the school: concerns, hopes, and new challenges of education (SIC PL)
• Young voices shaping a safer digital Europe (SIC MK)

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, including those from early warning meetings for both strands.
• Safer Internet Centres continue to upload 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 refer to the BIK platform user guides for support with regular tasks (such as resource and helpline case study uploads).
• The Insafe induction manual also provides a good background on the tools and services available to network members, the various commitments you have as a network member (including a handy checklist by strand), and contact information for team members.

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 remember to log in to access any BIK community links.

• 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; #SaferInternetForum; #SIF2026
• 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; #SID2026; #SaferInternetDay2026; #SID2027; #SaferInternetDay2027
• 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