As you may be aware, EUN is approaching the end of the BIK Phase 5 coordination contract (at the end of April 2025). The EC's tender process regarding the next project phase is still ongoing.

While not making any assumptions as to EUN's role in the next phase, for network continuity purposes, we will increasingly start to propose some dates and activities beyond the end of April in Weekly Update entries. This is to allow SICs to already reserve time for - and benefit from - capacity-building activities until the next BIK coordination contract is awarded.

The Insafe-INHOPE joint training meeting will take place in Amsterdam on 19-20 March 2025. The meeting will be held at the Mövenpick Hotel, Amsterdam City Centre and will start at 13:00 CET on Wednesday, 19 March, with two optional sessions on Wednesday morning: a visit to the Dutch helpline and hotline and a media literacy session hosted by NL SIC consortium partners ECP. 

Registration has now closed - if you would still like to attend, please contact Karl directly. 

If you still need to book accommodation, the following information may be helpful:

Walking distance (or a tram ride of 1 or 2 stops)  

• Ibis Amsterdam Centre (next to Amsterdam Central Station)
• Double Tree by Hilton Amsterdam (next to Amsterdam Central Station)
• Rooms25 (a 15-minute walk; public transport takes longer)

There are many more hotels directly in the city centre. Anything within walking distance of the Central Station would work well, and tram 26 will take you to the Mövenpick Hotel, where the training meeting will take place in around 5 minutes.  

Amsterdam Sloterdijk has some cheaper options and is only 5 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station.

• Amsterdam City West
• Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam (near Sloterdijk Station)

We are very grateful to our colleagues from Dutch SIC for all of their help and support in planning the meeting, and we are looking forward to seeing you all in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks. If you need any further information or have any questions, please contact Karl. 

As you may know, we are in the process of writing a good practice guide on working with very young children. We need to hear from you about any resources that you have that target this particular age group (children from 0-8), and also parents/caregivers and educators who work with them. Please can you share links to any resources or materials with Karl so that they can be included in the good practice guide (as soon as possible but by Friday, 14 March 2025 at the latest). Additionally, if anyone would be willing to provide feedback on the draft report, this would be very welcome too – again, please get in touch withKarl. 

The next early warning meeting for helplines will take place this Friday, 7 March 2025 at 11:00 CET; join the meeting using this link. For further information on any aspect of the helpline early warning meetings, please contact Karl.

Many thanks to those people who attended the early warning meeting for awareness centres last week. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first). For further information, please contact Karl.

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place Wednesday, 2 April 2025 at 14:00 CEST; use this link to join the meeting. All colleagues are welcome regardless of whether you have anything to share. 

There will be an online meeting for helplines on Thursday, 3 April 2025 at 09:00 CEST. The meeting will hear from Elliot Taylor, the CEO of Throughline. Throughline is used by many social media platforms (e.g., Discord) and other platforms and apps,and provides a direct link to a helpline or support service which is local to a user who needs help. Some Insafe helplines are already included in their directory, but others are not, and we thought it would be useful to provide an opportunity for helplines to hear more about the service and how it works so that they could potentially be included. You can use this link to join the meeting. Please contact Karl if you need further information or if you have any questions.

The month of Safer Internet Day actions has now come to an end; thank you for all your support.

SID 2025 reporting
This is a kind reminder that your SIC’s SID reporting template (including a blog article on SID successes), is due for submission by COB next Tuesday, 11 March 2025, via the BIK community assessment tools (login first). This is required for campaign reporting to the EC, and it is important that your SIC's data is included.

Please note - there is no offline version of the reporting form this year (following feedback, we will ensure this is enabled for the next edition of SID). In the meantime, these screenshots provide an overview of what is required (in the BIK community; login first). Please note, also, that you can save the online form as a draft as many times as you need to before finally submitting it. 

SID 2026
As the 2025 edition draws to a close, a reminder that the 2026 edition of Safer Internet Day will again take place across the full month, with a global day of celebration on Tuesday, 10 February 2026 (a save the date logo can be downloaded from the BIK community; login first).

If you have questions on any aspect of the Safer Internet Day campaign, please contact saferinternetday@betterinternetforkids.eu.

The next edition of the BIK bulletin will be published at the end of March 2025, with news on the recently published BIK+ strategy evaluation and a round-up of Safer Internet Day actions. 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 COB on Monday, 24 March 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. The BIK team reserves the right to edit contributions for house style etc., but we try to keep this to a minimum.

Articles
Recently published articles include:

• Global Safer Internet Day celebrations: Nepal's activities
• Global Safer Internet Day celebrations: Nigeria's activities
• In the spotlight: Safer Internet Centre Slovakia

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

Platform drop-in session at the joint training meeting
We will be hosting a short platform drop-in session over the lunchtime period (12:00 - 13:15) at the joint training meeting in Amsterdam on Thursday, 20 March 2025. Pop along to the registration desk with any queries, and Annarita and Sarah will be on hand to provide support. 

Please also remember that we can schedule short online support calls at any time. Please use the contact form on the BIK platform or contact the BIK support mailbox in the first instance, 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, #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

We are organising a focus group on cyberbullying on Tuesday, 25 March 2025 (provisionally 10:30-16:00) in Brussels, Belgium. The focus group will help to inform the EU action plan against cyberbullying and will bring together a wide range of stakeholders.

As you may be aware, EUN is approaching the end of the BIK Phase 5 coordination contract (at the end of April 2025). The EC's tender process regarding the next project phase is still ongoing.

While not making any assumptions as to EUN's role in the next phase, for network continuity purposes, we will increasingly start to propose some dates and activities beyond the end of April in Weekly Update entries. This is to allow SICs to already reserve time for - and benefit from - capacity-building activities until the next BIK coordination contract is awarded.

The Insafe-INHOPE joint training meeting will take place in Amsterdam on 19-20 March 2025. The meeting will be held at the Mövenpick Hotel, Amsterdam City Centre and will start at 13:00 CET on Wednesday, 19 March, with two optional sessions on Wednesday morning: a visit to the Dutch helpline and hotline and a media literacy session hosted by NL SIC consortium partners ECP. 

Registration is now open, and we would ask you (and any other SIC colleagues who are planning to attend) to register by close of business today, Monday, 24 February 2025 using this link. You will find a link to the draft agenda from the registration page (our main focus will be on AI), along with information about the optional sessions and the networking dinner that will take place on the famous Amsterdam canals on Wednesday evening.  

As usual at the face-to-face meeting, and by popular demand, we will have an Open Space Technology (OST) session, which will provide an opportunity for colleagues to share information about the work that they are doing at their Safer Internet Centre. This could be a chance to share some interesting research or showcase a particular resource. Please do sign up to host one of these informal sessions when you register – the OST sessions will only work if we have people willing to host: we know that there is so much expertise, good practice, and wisdom around the network that can be shared.  

We know that many of you have already booked accommodation, but colleagues from the Dutch SIC have prepared a list of other possible options nearby if this is helpful:

Walking distance (or a tram ride of 1 or 2 stops)  

• Ibis Amsterdam Centre (next to Amsterdam Central Station)
• Double Tree by Hilton Amsterdam (next to Amsterdam Central Station)
• Rooms25 (a 15-minute walk; public transport takes longer)

There are many more hotels directly in the city centre. Anything within walking distance of the Central Station would work well, and tram 26 will take you to the Mövenpick Hotel, where the training meeting will take place in around 5 minutes.  

Amsterdam Sloterdijk has some cheaper options and is only 5 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central Station.  

• Amsterdam City West
• Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam (near Sloterdijk Station)

We are very grateful to our colleagues from Dutch SIC for all of their help and support in planning the meeting, and we are looking forward to seeing you all in Amsterdam next month. If you need any further information or have any questions, please contact Karl. 

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place this Thursday, 27 February 2025 at 14.00 CET. A roundtable discussion on the recent SID celebrations will take place during this meeting.Access the meeting using this link; for further information, please contact Eray.

Many thanks to those people who attended the early warning meeting for awareness centres last week. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first). For further information, please contact Karl.

The next early warning meeting for awareness centres will take place Wednesday, 2 April 2025 at 14:00 CEST; use this link to join the meeting. All colleagues are welcome regardless of whether you have anything to share. 

The next early warning meeting for helplines will take place on Friday, 7 March 2025 at 11:00 CET; join the meeting using this link. For further information on any aspect of the helpline early warning meetings, please contact Karl.

There will be an online meeting for helplines on Thursday, 3 April 2025 at 09:00 CEST. The meeting will hear from Elliot Taylor, the CEO of Throughline. Throughline is used by many social media platforms (e.g., Discord) and other platforms and apps,and provides a direct link to a helpline or support service which is local to a user who needs help. Some Insafe helplines are already included in their directory, but others are not, and we thought it would be useful to provide an opportunity for helplines to hear more about the service and how it works so that they could potentially be included. You can use this link to join the meeting. Please contact Karl if you need further information or if you have any questions.

We wish all SICs who will continue to mark Safer Internet Day in the coming week continued success with your activities. If you continue to post about your activities or successes, please remember to use the #SID2025 and #SaferInternetDay hashtags, and please tag @SafeInternetDay so that we can further share your posts. And, if any of you have pictures that you are able to share (with permission) for inclusion in our immediate post-campaign activity (on the BIK platform and social media), we would be delighted to receive them! Please share them with the BIK content mailbox.

We have now published the first article highlighting some successes from the 2025 Safer Internet Day campaign - read it on the BIK portal. Also, last week, we published the BIK Annual Report 2024, highlighting the main achievements and successes of the BIK platform and Insafe-INHOPE networks from the past year. 

Continuing to update SID profile pages
A reminder that it is possible to make further changes to your SID profile page - or add new resources launched on the day. Those with direct profile edit access can do it directly (and we will authorise changes via the moderation workflow) or submit them here via the EUSurvey form. If it is something very minor, you can always drop us a message via the SID mailbox, and we'll respond as quickly as we can.

SID 2025 reporting
This is a kind reminder that your SIC’s SID reporting template (including a blog article on SID successes, which you are welcome to send sooner) will now be facilitated via the BIK community assessment tools (login first; see also below). The deadline for submissions is COB on Tuesday, 11 March 2025 (or sooner if possible).

Please note - there is no offline version of the form this year (following feedback, we will ensure this is enabled for the next edition of SID). In the meantime, these screenshots provide an overview of what is required (in the BIK community; login first). Please note, also, that you can save the online form as a draft as many times as you need to before finally submitting it. 

SID 2026
The 2026 edition of Safer Internet Day will again take place across the full month, with a global day of celebration on Tuesday, 10 February 2026 (a save the date logo can be downloaded from the BIK community; login first).

If you have questions on any aspect of the Safer Internet Day campaign, please contact saferinternetday@betterinternetforkids.eu.

Our new MOOC, Child Online Safety: What educators need to know, runs until Wednesday, 12 March 2025. It is a free online course designed to help educators understand and address the challenges young people face in digital spaces, covering critical topics such as mental health, cyberbullying, persuasive design, and consumer protection. It aims to equip participants with practical strategies to foster safer and more responsible internet use. Learn more about the MOOC here.

Registration remains open; please continue disseminating information through your national contacts and channels.

Articles
Recently published articles include:

• 'Growing up in the digital world': This was the Safer Internet Conference 2025 in Austria
• The Better Internet for Kids annual report 2024 is out
• How to build critical thinking skills in your classroom: ideas for teachers to discuss in-game marketing manipulation
• Over 800 schools in Greece joined contests to promote digital safety
• Safer Internet Day 2025: activities across Croatia to promote digital safety
• Worldwide celebrations for Safer Internet Day 2025

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

This is a reminder that Safer Internet Day 2025 reporting will be done via the assessment platform tools on the BIK community (login first). Permissions need to be assigned in order to access this. If you need your account to be updated to permit access, or have any other questions, please contact the BIK support mailbox. The deadline for submissions is the close of business on Tuesday, 11 March 2025.

Please note - there is no offline version of the form this year (following feedback, we will ensure this is enabled for the next edition of SID). In the meantime, these screenshots provide an overview of what is required (in the BIK community; login first). Please note, also, that you can save the online form as a draft as many times as you need to before finally submitting it. 

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

• Europol issues an Intelligence Notification calling attention to the rise of online cult communities dedicated to extremely violent child abuse (posted by SIC AT)

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