Insafe Weekly Update

The European Commission, through the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) Unit F4, has launched a “Study on monitoring app store ecosystems under the Digital Services Act under Framework Contract CNECT/2022/OP/0036”. The study is conducted by a consortium led by Wavestone in collaboration with Intellera.

The primary objective of this study is to support the Commission in fulfilling its monitoring and enforcement duties as the main authority responsible for ensuring compliance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. This regulation applies to very large online platforms and search engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs) concerning designated app stores.

To this end, the study will provide the EC with an analysis and mapping of the design, service, and business models of the ecosystems of app stores designated as VLOPs, including the functioning of their services and related systems, as well as the use made of these services. It will support the EC in better understanding the emerging trends in the distribution of illegal and harmful content on app stores, as well as the role played by recommender systems and advertising on selected platforms.

The survey takes approximately 40 minutes to complete and covers topics including:

• Perspectives on age assurance methods put in place by app stores and the role of third-party providers.
• Insights on age assurance implementation in the context of app stores.
• Observed experiences of parents and minors, including challenges and areas of concern.
• Feedback on common circumvention techniques.

SICs are invited to respond to the online survey and also share it with any relevant contacts and networks.

"Unpacking the Truth" is a new educational game designed to tackle disinformation head-on. Produced by the Publications Office of the EU and the European Commission Representation in Luxembourg, this interactive classroom activity empowers students aged 16 to 18 with critical thinking and fact-checking skills. Dive into a fictional social media post and navigate the world of false claims with the guidance of captivating EU-themed characters. Through engaging gameplay, students will learn to use EU resources to debunk disinformation effectively. The resource is currently available in EN and FR.

Assessment platform submissions will be due at the end of this month for helplines and hotlines reporting on the second quarter of 2025 (April to June inclusive). The deadline for both helpline and hotline submissions will be the close of business on Friday, 11 July 2025. 

The 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 (helplines). 

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

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

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place on Monday, 23 June 2025 at 12.00 CEST. During this meeting, we will focus on the outcomes of the Norwegian Media Authority's research studies related to harmful content and reporting, as well as the youth's involvement in these studies.  Access the meeting using this link; for further information, please contact Eray.

An online meeting will take place on Thursday, 10 July 2025 at 11:00 CEST to showcase the VUĊI (Valuing and Understanding Children’s Impact) Toolkit, which has been developed by colleagues in Malta to measure the impact of child participation on children, adults and policymaking. Sue, who many of you know from the Maltese SIC, will present the toolkit and share some thoughts on how it can be used. You can read more about the project and access the toolkit (in English) here. Use this link to join the meeting; for further information, please contact Karl.  

The next helpline early warning meeting will be held on Wednesday, 18 June 2025, at 11:00 CEST; join the meeting using this link. Please contact Karl for further information.

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place on Monday, 30 June 2025, at 11:00 CEST; use this link to join the meeting. Please contact Karl for any further information.

There will be an online meeting with colleagues from Sony on Thursday, 3 July 2025 at 14:00 CEST. The meeting will provide an opportunity to hear about Sony’s work on online safety and how their systems work. There will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion. Join the meeting using this link. If you have any specific questions or suggestions for areas you would like them to focus on, please contact Karl.

The next Insafe training meeting will take place online on the mornings of 14, 15 and 16 October 2025; the meeting will run from 10:00 CEST until 13:00 CEST on all three mornings. Further information will be shared in the coming weeks, but please already save the dates in your calendars. For further information, please contact Karl.

We are delighted to open the call for youth participation in this year's Safer Internet Forum, taking place in Brussels, Belgium, in December 2025.

As before, we are issuing two separate calls for the BIK Youth Panel and the SIF Youth Advisory Group (YAG). Please note that, in line with the requirements of the new BIK project phase, there are some changes to the youth participant nomination processes. As such, please ensure that you read and follow the detailed application process for the respective strand(s) you are interested in:

•  BIK Youth Panel – open to youth associated with all Insafe network member countries (excluding the UK).
  Find further details, including information on the application process for the BIK Youth Panel, here.
  
  
• SIF Youth Advisory Group (YAG) – open to BIK Youth Ambassadors associated with the EC co-funded SICs only. Find further details, including information on the application process for the SIF YAG, here.

The deadline for applications is the close of business this Friday, 20 June 2025. For further information, please contact Sabrina or Chiara.

The next edition of the BIK bulletin will be published at the end of June 2025, with news on the recently published BIK+ strategy evaluation and Policy monitor report. As always, we also invite Safer Internet Centres (and their partners) to contribute with general articles on news, resources or events. The content deadline is the close of business on Wednesday, 18 June 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, we cannot accept AI-generated images). The BIK team reserves the right to edit contributions for house style etc., but we try to keep this to a minimum.

Access the full BIK news article archive here.

Please contact the BIK content mailbox with any article submissions or in case of any queries.

Reports from online meetings for awareness centres and helplines are now available in the BIK community.

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, and we will 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