Insafe Weekly Update

As you may already be aware, the 2025 State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen last week included a key focus on topical online issues. The full speech is available here. The excerpt of the speech of particular relevance to BIK is copied below for your information:

Honourable Members,

The same goes for social media.

It has so many benefits for connecting people.

But I would like to raise one specific topic.

And this is the effects of giving our children unfettered access to social media.

As a mother of seven, and a grandmother of four, I feel the anxiety of parents who are doing their best to keep their children safe.

These parents worry that when their children pick up a phone they could be exposed to the wide-ranging dangers, simply with a scroll.

Online bullying.

Adult content.

Promoting self-harm.

And algorithms that prey on children's vulnerabilities with the explicit purpose of creating addictions.

Too often mums and dads feel powerless and helpless.

That they are drowning against the tsunami of Big Tech flooding their family homes.

I strongly believe that parents, not algorithms, should be raising our children.

Their voice must be heard.

This is why today I am here to tell you that I am listening.

Just as in my days – we as a society – taught our children that they could not smoke, drink and watch adult content until a certain age.

I believe it is time we consider doing the same for social media.

Our friends in Australia are pioneering a social media restriction.

I am watching the implementation of their policy closely to see what next steps we can take here in Europe.

I will commission a panel of experts to advise me by the end of this year on the best approach for Europe.

We will approach this carefully and listen to everyone.

And in all of this work we will be guided by the need to empower parents and build a safer Europe for our children.

Because when it comes to our kids' safety online, Europe believes in parents, not profits.

Given the ongoing focus on cyberbullying, as again reiterated in the State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen (above), we encourage all SICs to give as much visibility as possible to the two ongoing consultations in the coming weeks.

While more extensive entries on the consultation activities remain below (in the Governance section, a reminder that:

• Children aged 12-17 are encouraged to complete a survey on cyberbullying 2025 hosted on the EU's Children's Participation Platform (CPP).
• Young people (aged 18+), adults and organisations are encouraged to respond to the public consultation and a call for evidence to support the development of an Action plan against cyberbullying on the EC's Have your Say portal.

The consultations are available in all EU languages and close on Monday, 29 September 2025.

A reminder that teaser activities for the new campaign, DSA for YOUth - Protecting minors by design, will be launching this week. Look out for posts across the project's social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook and X), and please comment, share, and repost.

We'll also share a dissemination pack with Safer Internet Centres shortly, to further support the campaign.

A reminder also that we are still seeking SICs to support with teacher and/or parent webinars as part of the campaign activities. For more details, refer to the full campaign entry under the Events and campaigns section below.

This school year, help students stay safe online and thrive offline with the European Commission’s 2025–2026 calendar. Each month explores a digital safety theme, from cybersecurity to digital rights, while supporting students in balancing their obligations. The calendar also features key global and EU observance days and is available in all EU languages. More than a planning tool, it’s a guide to building digital resilience and supporting personal growth, both online and offline.

Download or print the resource from the Publications Office of the European Union website (it's available in both web format (PDF) and in print-quality format (PDF/X)). Additionally, in the coming days, the Publications Office will activate an option to order printed copies (delivery fees will be at the client's expense).

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to disseminate this new resource.

The European Commission is currently conducting a public consultation and a call for evidence to support the development of an Action plan against cyberbullying.

The Action Plan will be adopted in early 2026 to build a comprehensive, inclusive, and effective strategy to combat cyberbullying across the EU. It will focus on minors while also considering other elements of cyberbullying, including gender and the heightened vulnerability of certain groups of youth up to the age of 29, such as persons with disabilities, LGBTIQ, migrants and those from religious, racial or ethnic minorities, who are more affected by cyberbullying.    

The public consultations will be open until Monday, 29 September 2025 and are available on the Have your Say portal.

The questionnaire is also available in Word format for screen reader users and in an easy-to-read version. 

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to share information on this consultation with their own contacts and networks. 

As you know, the European Commission is currently developing an Action plan against cyberbullying. This will include actions to be taken by adults, schools, and social media platforms to help prevent cyberbullying and better support children affected by it (see also below).

To help ensure the action plan meets the needs of children, respects their rights, and reflects their lived experiences, the EC also needs to hear from them. To do this, the EU Children’s Participation Platform has launched an online survey (in all EU languages) for children and teens aged 12-17.

Children can take the survey individually, with support from a trusted adult, or as part of a relevant classroom session. With the aim of ensuring the survey is child-friendly, it was reviewed by child members of the EU Children’s Participation Platform, and changes were made based on their feedback.

• For children aged 12-17: Survey on cyberbullying 2025
• Adults, young people aged 18+, and organisations can also have their say, through the formal EU Consultation: Action plan against cyberbullying

Both the online survey and the EU consultation will close on Monday, 29 September 2025.

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to share information on this consultation with their own contacts and networks, and especially via their own services and platforms which have direct reach to children and young people. 

Cyberbullying is growing fast across Europe, but policymakers still lack a shared definition to track and tackle it effectively. A new Joint Research Centre (JRC) science for policy brief - Cyberbullying: Considerations towards a common definition- analyses existing definitions and various elements of cyberbullying across academic literature and policy documents.

While this policy brief already provides a comprehensive understanding of the topic, a detailed technical analysis will also be published soon, providing further and deeper insights.

Additionally, more insights from JRC will be shared at the forthcoming Insafe Training meeting (see below).

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence and public consultation on the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act.

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 Thursday, 9 October 2025 (midnight Brussels time)and are available on the Have Your Say portal. For more information, please refer to the dedicated press release.

The next early warning meeting for helplines will take place thisWednesday, 17 September 2025, at 11:00 CEST; 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.

A reminder that you can find a report from the last helpline early warning meeting, along with a link to the recording, in the BIK community (login first).

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place on Monday, 22 September 2025 at 11:00 CEST; 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.

A reminder that a report from the last awareness early warning meeting, along with a link to the recording, is now available in the BIK community (login first). 

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place on Thursday, 25 September 2025 at 11.00 CEST. During this meeting, we will focus on the outcomes of BEE SECURE Radar 2025 on the use of information and communication technologies by young people in Luxembourg. Access the meeting using this link; for further information, please contact Chiara or Carolina.

Registration is now open for the next Insafe Training meeting, which will take place on the mornings of Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15, and Thursday 16 October 2025. A reminder that this will be an online meeting; there are no restrictions on the number of SIC colleagues who can attend. The agenda is available to view via the registration link.

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Karl.

A reminder also that the Insafe Steering Committee meeting will take place, online, on the morning of Friday, 17 October 2025.

As usual, a resource competition will take place as part of the upcoming Insafe Training meeting. All EC co-funded SICs are welcome to participate in the competition, with the opportunity to win €5,000, which must be used to make the resource accessible to the wider network (for example, through translation and/or adaptation). The resource could be a video, brochure, book, research report, learning materials – anything that would be of interest and use to the wider network. 

Please note that there is no specific topic or target audience for this edition of the resource competition, so SICs are invited to submit any recently created resource.

Submitted entries should meet the following criteria:

• The resource should be created by an EC co-funded Safer Internet Centre.
• The resource is suitable for adaptation to benefit the entire network (in the event of victory).
• The resource is relatively recent (for example, developed within the last 18 months). 

Those SICs wishing to take part should submit an entry using this short online form. The deadline to submit entries is the close of business on Friday, 26 September 2025. Please note that each country can only submit one entry. If you are unsure whether a particular resource meets the criteria, please contact Karl or Annarita to discuss.  

Please find below an outline of the upcoming deadlines related to the resource competition.  

A reminder of what is new this year? As you might have read in last week's Weekly Updates (and included as a reminder below), a new incentive to enter the training meeting resource competition is the introduction of the new “Best SIC Resource of the Year” award. It will build on submissions to the resource competitions – the entries selected to compete for this additional award (for the 2026 edition) will be the winning entry and the entry that comes in second place.

Under the current BIK project (2025-2027), EUN continues to incentivise the network to create, share, translate and localise new awareness-raising materials and resources, available through the BIK portal. In addition to the already established bi-annual resource competitions, which take place alongside the Insafe and joint Insafe-INHOPE training meetings, EUN is creating a new competition – the “Best SIC Resource of the Year” award – with the aim to provide Safer Internet Centres with an additional opportunity to create and showcase their best resources, materials, reports and tools. Please find essential information about the award below:

• The award will build on submissions to the resource competitions: the entries selected to compete will be the winning entry, and the entry that came in second place from each edition of the resource competitions as voted by SICs, for a total of four competing entries.
• The award follows an annual cycle, whereby each time the four competing resources are drawn from the previous academic year. The competing resources for the first edition of the award have already been contacted.
• The promotion of the competing resources, and voting for the “Best SIC Resource of the Year” award, will be part of the annual Safer Internet Forum for both onsite and online participants, with the winner of the award being announced as part of the SIF programme.

The “Best SIC Resource of the Year” award grants recognition and prestige to the winning resource among the network, and EUN will focus their efforts in disseminating the winning resource across all channels, utilising key points in the BIK calendar to ensure good visibility and significant dissemination.

More information about the award will follow. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the new competition, please contact Annarita.

We have developed a good practice guide on working with very young users, as shared in the June 2025 edition of the BIK bulletin and available to download here.

The guide was written by Stéphane Chaudron, and we will have an online meeting on Tuesday, 30 September 2025, at 14:00 CEST, where Stéphane will present the guide and share some key information on how to work effectively with younger users online. Use this link to join the meeting. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Karl.

With teaser activities launching this week, the “DSA for YOUth - Protecting minors by design” campaign will 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, starting with a teaser phase, followed by a more active launch 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), and continuing activities leading up to the Safer Internet Forum on 4 December 2025.
• 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. 

In the coming months, SICs will be encouraged to support the campaign in various ways:

1. Providing insights through articles
   SICs are encouraged to showcase their work in enforcing the DSA and helping children, parents, and caregivers address online harms. Through insight articles, social media posts, and features such as ‘day in the life’ stories, the campaign will highlight national best practices, promote trusted flaggers, and provide accessible resources that SICs can share and adapt for their audiences.
   When: Articles will be collected from September through early October; more information to follow in the coming weeks.
2. Participating in teacher and/or parent webinars
   SICs are invited to lead or participate in campaign webinars (there will be one for teachers and one for parents), sharing guidance on implementing the DSA in schools and at home, showcasing best practices, and offering practical strategies to enhance children’s online safety.
   When: Webinar dates will be scheduled between 20 and 31 October 2025.
   Deadline: Please express your interest in participating by contacting Inna by the extended deadline of Wednesday, 17 September 2025. We will then work with interested SICS to select a date and begin developing the concepts and content for the webinars. Please note that participating SICs will be fully supported by the BIK comms team at EUN throughout the webinar development and delivery process. The webinars will be conducted in English.
3. Proofreading the family-friendly booklet
   SICs will be asked to review the translated versions of the family-friendly booklet, which summarises the Article 28 guidelines, to ensure clarity, accuracy, and alignment with local terminology and context.
   When: Translated versions will be shared with SICs by 30 October 2025, with feedback required within two weeks.
4. Acting as campaign multipliers
   SICs are encouraged to actively follow the campaign, promote its messages through their channels, and adapt content to their local language and cultural context.
   When: Throughout the full campaign period, 15 September – 7 November 2025. As is typical, the BIK comms team at EUN will provide a variety of resources and materials to support SICs in this process.

We have already begun active preparation for the campaign and will continue to provide updates in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned, or in the meantime, feel free to contact Inna with any questions or suggestions on the campaign. 

The Polish Safer Internet Centre (run by the NASK National Research Institute and the Empowering Children Foundation) is hosting the 19th international conference "Keeping children and young people safe online". The conference gathers hundreds of participants each year from the education sector, public administration, non-governmental organisations, and the technology sector. It is the largest recurring event in Poland dedicated to children's online safety. Safer Internet Centre colleagues are welcome to participate.

Key information:

• 23–24 September 2025: On-site conference at Hotel Airport Okęcie; online participation is also possible (presentations during the first two days will be available in Polish, English, and Polish Sign Language (PJM)).
• 25–26 September 2025: Online webinars (conducted in Polish only).

Further information, including the agenda, speakers, and registration, is available here.

Participation in the conference is free of charge (travel and accommodation costs not included).

For further information, please contact: kontakt@saferinternet.pl.

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 on 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 share information on the BIK MOOC with their own networks and contacts. 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, this year's edition will focus on how age assurance, in connection with a broader range of protective and preventive measures, can help to protect children and young people from harmful content while providing them with age-appropriate, positive online experiences. It will bring together a variety of public and private stakeholders, including youth, to discuss the current state of play across and beyond the European Union, with reference to recent political and technical solutions being implemented.

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 in the second half of September. We will write to SIC coordinators nearer that time to further elaborate on the schedule for the week and the corresponding registration process, and ask you to confirm your two in-person attendees.

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

The next edition of the BIK bulletin will be published at the end of September 2025, with news on the recent EC announcements on the Protection of Minors package (guidelines on the protection of minors, EU white-label age-verification blueprint, and so on). This edition will also spotlight the new BIK autumn campaign - DSA for YOUth: Protecting minors by design (see more above).

As always, we also invite Safer Internet Centres (and their partners) to contribute to the BIK bulletin with general articles on news, resources or events. The content deadline is the close of business this Wednesday, 17 September 2025. All contributions or queries should be addressed to content@betterinternetforkids.eu.

As a reminder, we generally suggest that articles should be 300 - 600 words in length (but longer focus pieces are fine too), along with copyright-cleared images/photographs/logos if appropriate (please note that we cannot accept AI-generated images). The BIK team reserves the right to edit contributions for house style, etc., but we try to keep these changes to a minimum.

• Cyberbullying on the rise: the benefits of a common definition

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; #SIF2024; #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; #Pledge2Youth
• Safer Internet Day (SID):
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/saferinternetday; #SaferInternetDay; #SID2025; #SID2026
• Media literacy campaign:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/media-smart-online; #MediaSmartOnline
• Child and youth consumer protection campaign:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/adwiseonline; #AdWiseOnline
• 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