Insafe Weekly Update

As you know, we are currently redeveloping the BIK platform, for launch in the autumn season (the exact date is yet to be confirmed). In preparation, we are undertaking some content cleaning and migration tasks over the summer, and for some of these, we need input or cooperation from SIC colleagues. For this reason, we have created this new section of the Weekly Update and encourage SICs to review it each week for the latest news, updates and deadlines.

If you have any questions about any aspect of the current or future platform, please contact the BIK content mailbox.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

This is a reminder that we have now suspended the upload of resources to the BIK community on the existing platform; please hold back any new resource uploads ready to upload to the new platform when it goes live. We will conduct SIC onboarding activities from September 2024 onwards and will provide training and guidance on the latest upload tools at that point.

Please contact us if there are any time sensitivities or contractual obligations regarding publishing certain content while normal upload routines are suspended, and we will do our best to provide a solution. The same applies if you also need to edit or remove an existing resource entry during this time.

This is a reminder that we have now suspended the upload of helpline case studies to the BIK community on the existing platform at the end of this week; please hold onto any helpline case study materials ready to upload on the new platform when it goes live. We will conduct SIC onboarding activities from September 2024 onwards and will provide training and guidance on the latest upload tools at that point.

Please contact us if there are any time sensitivities or contractual obligations regarding publishing certain content while normal upload routines are suspended, and we will do our best to provide a solution.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence, responses to which will feed into the guidelines the Commission is preparing under Art.28(4) of the DSA on the protection of minors. Once adopted, these guidelines will help online platforms apply the requirement to put in place appropriate measures to ensure a high-level of privacy safety and security for minors online.  

The call seeks feedback on the proposed scope and approach of the guidelines, as well as on good practices and recommendations related to mitigation measures to the risks that minors can encounter online. The Commission is inviting all stakeholders to take part in the call for evidence, including by providing supporting scientific reports and research. 

Online platforms should ensure that the rights and best interests of children are a central consideration when designing their services. Platforms should adopt a risk-based approach, regularly carry out impact assessments, and implement mitigation measures for any potential risks to minors stemming from their services. The work of the Working Group on the Protection of Minors under the Board will also feed into the guidelines. 

The call is available in all EU official languages; a news item can be found here.  

Next steps:  

• Contributions are welcome to the call for evidence until Monday, 30 September 2024 (midnight Brussels time). 
• After the close of the call, the Commission will use input to draft the guidelines. 
• The Commission will conduct a public consultation on the draft guidelines. 
• Consultation of the Board. 
• Adoption of the guidelines is planned for before the summer of 2025. 

Safer Internet Centres are encouraged to contribute to the call for evidence. Please feel free to share this information with your own relevant contacts and networks also.

The European Commission is launching a 12-week open stakeholder consultation on the Digital Europe Programme as part of the mid-term evaluation. 

The consultation seeks to gain insights into stakeholders’ experience with the programme, their perspectives on how relevant the objectives of the programme are to the digital transformation of companies and the public sector, how the programme responds to current and future technological trends, the perceived coherence with other EU or national/local funding, and what they consider to be its expected impact. The aim is to gather diverse perspectives from small and medium-sized enterprises to non-governmental organisations, academia, social partners, public authorities, and other public and private organisations and citizens from EU Member States and associated countries. 

The questionnaire is available on the Commission’s Have Your Say portal in English, French, and German, and contributions in any official EU language are welcome. It will be open until Friday, 20 September 2024. To take part, please follow this link to the consultation and click on Go to consultation.  

The feedback received will help guide the design of future initiatives and inform reflections on the potential for simplification and burden reduction within the Digital Europe Programme. The scope of the mid-term evaluation and the proposed methodology are briefly described in the Call for Evidence, which is available in all EU languages on the same website. Feedback can also be provided on this document (to do so, go to Give feedback).  

Further information about the consultation can be found in the news item here. 

SICs are kindly invited to respond to the questionnaire and also help spread the word and raise interest to maximise the potential for meaningful feedback.  

Thank you to the many of you who have already confirmed with Valentina (via BIKevaluation@eun.org) your availability and willingness to support carrying out the children and young people consultations for the BIK+ strategy evaluation.  

All SICs are kindly invited to an information session about the BIK+ strategy evaluation consultations to learn more and ask questions. Even if you are not yet sure that you can carry out a consultation, we encourage you to attend the information session to better understand what it entails in terms of time and effort, as this will be a recurring evaluation that takes place every two years. 

The information session is scheduled for Wednesday, 04 September, 10.00-11.00 CEST; join the session here via Teams. We will also record it so those who cannot attend can view it later in their own time. 

The key points about the consultation process: 

• SICs are invited to consult a minimum of 10 children and young people (under 18 years of age). 
• Duration of the consultation: ca. 60 minutes.
• EUN will provide:   
  • a consultation protocol (in English),
  • a child-friendly info flyer explaining the consultation activity (in the national language), 
  • activity sheets to facilitate the consultation (in the national language), 
  • a reporting template (in English). 
  • Please visit the BIK portal to download the full consultation material package in English. (The translated packages will be added to this page soon.) 
• The deadline to submit the reports is Thursday, 31 October 2024. 

If you have any questions before the info session, please write to BIKevaluation@eun.org.

In addition to participation from Safer Internet Centres as facilitators of consultations with children and young people in the first BIK+ strategy evaluation (see above), we are keen to engage with parents, caregivers, teachers, and educators. All Safer Internet Centres are invited to disseminate the open calls:  

• Call for parents and caregivers
• Call for teachers and educators 

The consultation process with parents and teachers is anticipated to be as follows: 

• Consultation sessions will be organised online at different times between Monday, 23 September and Friday, 25 October 2024 (exact dates and times will be shared closer to the date via email). 
• The session duration will be 1 – 1.5 hours (exact duration to be confirmed closer to the date via email). 
• The deadline for submitting additional written feedback after the consultation session (optional) is Thursday, 31 October 2024, at 18.00 CET. 
• The final evaluation report will be published in February 2025.

In order to take part in the consultation, participants are invited to complete an online registration form as follows:  

• Parents and caregivers are invited to visit this link to express their interest in participating.
• Teachers and educators are invited to visit this link to express their interest in participating.

All expressions of interest should be received by Sunday, 15 September 2024.

We will be publishing posts on our social media platforms (Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn) in the coming days to promote this activity. Safer Internet Centres are kindly encouraged to reshare the posts or find other ways to share the call information with their national communities, contacts and networks.

If you have questions, please contact BIKevaluation@eun.org.

The latest helpline quarterly report, covering the period April - June 2024, is now available from the BIK community (login first). An infographic captures some of the data's headlines.
 
Thanks as ever for submitting all the statistics and sharing your observations and trends; we hope you find the report useful. Please contact Karl if you have any questions or need any further information.

The next helpline early warning meeting will take place on Friday, 6 September 2024 at 14:00 CEST; use this link to join the meeting. As usual, this is an opportunity to share any information about possible emerging trends, concerns related to apps or websites, or any other information that helplines are seeing which might be of use to the wider network. Helplines are expected to contribute to these meetings as part of their grant agreement. If you are unable to attend, please contact Karl.

An online meeting with TikTok will take place on Tuesday, 1 October 2024 at 12:00 CEST. It will provide an opportunity to hear about latest developments in safety and privacy on the platform, as well as to ask any questions; use this link to join the meeting. For further information, please contact Karl.  For further information, please contact Karl.

Save the Children Finland has been leading a two-year EU-funded project: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Education (CSAPE). It aims to prevent child sexual abuse through sexual education and early support to young people who have a sexual interest towards younger children. The project consortium comprises partners from Greece, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Iceland.

The project is organising a hybrid seminar, From Awareness to Action—Tackling Child Sexual Abuse in Europe through Prevention and Collaboration, in Brussels on Wednesday, 30 October 2024, from 9.30 to 16.00 CET. In the seminar, you will hear interesting keynote speeches and project results. SICs are welcome to attend either on-site in Brussels or online; register for the event here.

The CSAPE project has also produced several materials that are available via Save the Children Finland's website. Most of the materials are in six languages: English, Finnish, Greek, Albanian, Icelandic, and Bosnian. Here you will find a few of the materials (in English): 

• Sexual education material for professionals to use with 5-11-year-old children: Evidence-based sexual education – training package and annexes 
• LISTEN AND SUPPORT: Guide for parents and guardians about children’s sexual education (pdf) 
• Brochure for young people: What if your sexual thoughts are directed at children much younger than you? (pdf)
• Brochure for professionals: How to support a young person with child sexual thoughts (pdf) 

For further information, please contact Karl.

Please note this item relates to wider INHOPE work not linked with BIK.

INHOPE has recently created new guidelines on advocacy and initiating legislative changes to support hotlines and other stakeholders in their advocacy and policymaking efforts. The guidelines cover best practices for every stage of an advocacy plan, from preparation and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. They also provide advice on critical aspects of the advocacy process, including building and maintaining stakeholder relationships.  

INHOPE has also developed an Explanatory Note on the EU Recast CSA Directive as part of this publication.   

More information is available on the INHOPE website.

Please note this item relates to wider INHOPE work not linked with BIK.

The seventh annual INHOPE Summit will take place in hybrid form on 8-9 October 2024. This year's summit will explore two critical topics: our society's understanding and awareness of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the troubling trend of CSAM commercialisation. 

As the spread of CSAM online reaches unprecedented levels, reporting becomes increasingly vital. Yet, we must confront significant challenges in society's understanding of CSAM and address its economic ties. Join INHOPE as they tackle these pressing issues head-on.  

Read more in the article on the INHOPE website, or discover more on INHOPE events more generally.

It's almost time to get #Back2School! 

The fourth webinar of the BIK Teacher corner webinar series is entirely dedicated to supporting teachers and educators at the start of a new school year. Devices and other digital technologies have entered the classroom to stay, so what do teachers and educators need to know to ensure that their pupils can have a safe, digital start to the new school year?  

Speaker: Gareth Cort. 

SAVE THE DATE for Thursday, 12 September 2024, 17:00 CEST. Registration is now open, and the network is encouraged to participate and/or further disseminate this webinar. 

The BIK Teacher corner is a section of the BIK portal entirely dedicated to teachers, educators and other adults who work with children and young people. It is your ‘one-stop shop’ for learning and teaching about digital citizenship and online safety, and your go-to place for free information, advice and suggested resources to empower you to educate and support youth to safely and positively navigate their digital world, such as learning modules and deep dive articles. You can also watch the recordings of previous webinars here. 

The biggest conference on online safety in Poland will gather experts from all over Europe to discuss a wide range of issues related to the safety of children and young people online. The event is aimed at professionals working in education and/or working with young people, non-governmental organisations, public administrators, industry representatives. 

It will take place on 24-27 September 2024 in a hybrid format: the plenary sessions (24-25 September) will take place in Warsaw (Focus Hotel Premium) in English, Polish, Polish sign language, and will be streamed online. The workshop sessions (26-27 September) will take place online in Polish. 

You can find more information about the conference on the BIK portal, and register for the conference here. In case of any questions, please contact konferencja@saferinternet.pl.  

• First BIK+ strategy evaluation: registration for parents and caregivers NOW OPEN!
• First BIK+ strategy evaluation: registration for teachers and educators NOW OPEN!
• BIK #DigitalSunScreen summer campaign: 6 more tips for families to enjoy quality digital time at home

A kind reminder that SIC article publications are suspended while we prepare for the new BIK platform; please contact the BIK content mailbox in case of any queries.

Please remember that uploads to the BIK community are currently suspended while we prepare for the new platform launch. If you have questions, please contact the BIK content mailbox.

If you have questions or issues using any aspect of the BIK platform, please use the contact link in the top right navigation area or email support@betterinternetforkids.eu.

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK) public portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu; #BIK; #BIKbulletin
• New BIK strategy (BIK+) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/newbikstrategy; #BIKplus
• Safer Internet Forum (SIF) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif;#SIF2023; #SIF2024, #SaferInternetForum
• BIK Policy Map on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/bikmap; #BIKPolicyMap
• Safer Internet Day (SID) minisite:
  www.saferinternetday.org; #SID2024; #SID2025; #SaferInternetDay
• Positive Online Content (POCC) minisite:
  www.positiveonlinecontentforkids.eu; #positivecontent; #PositiveOnlineContent; #POCC
• BIK Youth minisite:
  www.bikyouth.eu; #BIKyouth; #Pledge2Youth
• Child and youth consumer protection campaign (launched on Safer Internet Day 2024):
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/adwiseonline; #AdWiseOnline
• Media literacy campaign (launched in March 2024):
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/mediasmartonline; #MediaSmartOnline
• 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