Insafe Weekly Update

Following its recent launch, a kind reminder that we call on all network members to actively participate in amplifying the new AdWiseOnline campaign's reach by spreading its messages and materials widely. Share and adapt the campaign materials within your own networks to help raise awareness about manipulative in-game marketing practices. The campaign will run until Sunday, 16 February 2025, and your participation is key to making it a success across the EU.

The campaign provides a variety of resources designed to support parents, caregivers, teachers, educators, and other professionals in guiding young consumers through marketing traps in online games. Key activities include the 'Game of terms' social media initiative with youth videos, collaborations with influencers on Instagram and Twitch, podcasts and webinars, educational modules, and much more.

For full details, including access to the promotional pack that you can localise to your national context*, please visit the AdWiseOnline section on the BIK public portal. For any questions or specific requests, please contact Inna.

* Please note, the AdWiseOnline campaign resources are also being shared with European Consumer Centres (ECC-Net) for localisation and amplification. We know that in many countries, SICs are already in contact with their national ECC. If this is the case, you may wish to liaise with your ECC to check their plans and/or benefit from collaboration on campaign activity. If your SIC is not currently in active contact with your national ECC but would like to be, again contact Inna in the first instance so that she can facilitate an introduction. 

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place this Wednesday, 29 January 2025 at 11.00 CET. During this meeting, Giuliano De Luca from the Italian SIC will present some of their best practices on the DSA implementation, which will be followed by a roundtable discussion on this topic with the whole group.Access the meeting using this link; for further information, please contact Eray.

A reminder for those SICs who are planning to claim the 2024 lump sum mechanism (LSM) (and previously signed and returned the letter of agreement over the summer period) should submit their completed claims template via email by the close of business this Friday, 31 January 2025.

In case of queries, please contact the BIK content mailbox.

Just a reminder that the next Insafe/INHOPE joint training meeting will take place at the Mövenpick Hotel at Piet Heinkade 11 in Amsterdam on 19-20 March 2025. We will be launching registration next Monday (3 February) - apologies for the delay, but we have just been finalising arrangements with the hotel, and for the network dinner and optional sessions, so that we can share all information at the point of registration.

The meeting will start at 13:00 on Wednesday, 19 March and finish at 17:00 on Thursday, 20 March. The Insafe Steering Committee meeting will take place on the morning of Friday, 21 March (for steering committee members only). There will also be some optional sessions taking place on the morning of Wednesday, 19 March. We will share more information about these sessions next week when registration launches.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Karl. 

Many thanks to everyone who joined the online meeting with Discord last week. It was a useful session with a lot of information shared about the platform, as well as some of the new resources that they have created for parents and their teen charter. A report is available from the BIK community (login first). If you need any further information, please contact Karl.

Many thanks to those people who joined the helpline early warning meeting last week. The summary report will be shared with all participants this week and will be uploaded to the BIK community as usual. If you need any further information, please contact Karl.

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place on Tuesday, 18 February 2025 at 14:00 CET; use this link to join the meeting. All colleagues are welcome regardless of whether you have anything to share. For further information, please contact Karl.

Our new MOOC, Child Online Safety: What educators need to know, is a free online course designed to help educators understand and address the challenges young people face in digital spaces. Launching on Monday, 3 February 2025 (and running until 12 March 2025), the course covers critical topics such as mental health, cyberbullying, persuasive design, and consumer protection, equipping participants with practical strategies to foster safer and more responsible internet use.

Learn more about the MOOC, and please encourage teachers and educators in your country to enrol!

A reminder that Safer Internet Day (SID) 2025 will be marked by a global day of focus on Tuesday, 11 February 2025, and events and activities will take place throughout the whole month, across Europe and the globe!

[URGENT REMINDER] Updating SID public profile pages
Thanks to all SICs which have recently updated their SID profile pages (either directly or via the online form). We will have a further push this week - please look out for/respond to an email on nominating a SID profile editor for your SIC, or alternatively, please share your profile update in the traditional way via the EU Survey form - see https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/SaferInternetDay2025.

[URGENT REMINDER] Remake of the SID video with Ally 
We are close to finalising the updated version of the SID video, including the new mascot and visual identity. We are looking forward to showing you thefinal result soon, but a reminder in the meantime: if you’re able to provide us with a voiceover in your national language, we can integrate this for you. If you’re interested in exploring this option, please contact Annarita.For those who have provided a voiceover in recent years, we will automatically take care of integrating this in the new version. Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Other reminders:

Ally - the new Safer Internet Day mascot
The editable design files for Ally - the new Safer Internet Day mascot - are now available in the new BIK community (log in first) or by emailing the SID helpdesk directly.

Sharing network SID plans
As mentioned at the autumn Insafe Training meeting, we have once again made an online document available for SICs and SIC+ countries to share their SID plans with other members of the network. A reminder that this is an internal document only, to allow network members to see the plans of other SIC/SIC+ organisations, and to make connections where there are synergies. The EC also refer to this regularly to help inform SID planning. Please update the document regularly as your plans progress. 

Reporting on SID 2025 actions
Following the redevelopment of the BIK platform, reporting for Safer Internet Day will now be conducted through the BIK community and aligned with the tools used for assessment platform uploads (including an Excel file upload for those SICs who prefer to work that way). We will share more information and instructions soon, but given that we are now recognising SID as a whole month of activities, we will seek to gather statistics for both the global day of celebration (11/02) and the full campaign period (01/02 - 28/02). To enable us to benefit from the campaign momentum in follow-up activities, completed SID reports should be uploaded by the close of business on Tuesday, 11 March 2025.

In case of questions or queries
Please feel free to contact the SID helpdesk with any further questions regarding the 2025 campaign.

Articles
Recently published articles include:

• What is sexting, and how do you talk about it with your child? (SIC BE)
• When normal goes wrong (SIC MT)
• Child Focus launches ‘CyberSquad’ workshop for teachers (SIC BE)
• Ireland's online safety code - a guide for parents (SIC IE)
• The "Child online safety: what educators need to know" MOOC by BIK is here!
• Fake it to make it: New game challenges disinformation (SIC PT)
• The hidden dangers of sharing passwords among Gen Z in Malta (SIC MT)

[REMINDER] Article submissions
Thanks to Safer Internet Centres for all the article submissions over recent weeks. We are working through these and will publish them as soon as possible; we will update you on the planned publication date and URL in due course. Please note that any articles submitted over this timeframe can still be counted towards the lump sum mechanism 2024, even if they are not yet live.

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

[REMINDER] Resource submissions
There have been a large number of resource submissions over recent weeks. Please note that the new BIK platform has a workflow moderation process, and resources will not appear live until the BIK Coordination Team approves them. Please bear with us while we continue to clear the backlog. Please note that any resources submitted over this timeframe can still be counted towards the lump sum mechanism 2024, even if they are not yet live.

[REMINDER] Helpline case study submissions
Similarly, there have been a large number of helpline case study submissions over recent weeks. Please note that the new BIK platform has a workflow moderation process, and case studies will not appear live until the BIK Coordination Team approves them. Please bear with us while we continue to clear the backlog. Please note that any case studies submitted over this timeframe can still be counted towards the lump sum mechanism 2024, even if they are not yet live.

Need some support?
If you have questions about any aspect of the new BIK platform, please use the contact form on the BIK platform or contact us via the BIK support mailbox.

Please note the updated URLs for the new BIK platform:

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK) on the new public platform:
  better-internet-for-kids. europa.eu; #BIK; #BIKbulletin
• BIK strategy (BIK+) on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/bik/bik-plus-strategy; #BIKplus
• Safer Internet Forum (SIF) on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/sif; #SIF2024, #SaferInternetForum
• BIK Knowledge hub on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/knowledge-hub; #BIKPolicyMap
• BIK Youth on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/bik-youth; #BIKyouth; #Pledge2Youth
• Safer Internet Day (SID) on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/saferinternetday; #SID2025; #SaferInternetDay
• Media literacy campaign on the new BIK platform:
  better-internet-for-kids.europa.eu/en/media-smart-online; #MediaSmartOnline
• Child and youth consumer protection campaign on the new BIK platform:
  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