Safer Internet Forum 2024
This year’s edition will take place in a hybrid format (Brussels, Belgium and online) on Thursday, 21 November 2024 with a theme of Where’s the harm? Protecting children and young people against inappropriate content and bullying online.
The past 12 months have seen heightened concern globally around the potential dangers and risks to children and young people online, including cyberbullying, which remains the most common reason for contacting Insafe helplines. Campaigns to ban the use of social media and smartphones for younger teens have gained traction, and more legislation and regulations are being enacted.
For example, an expert panel was convened in France late last year to address rising concerns about excessive screen time and its effects on youth, including mental health and developmental issues, and released a set of recommendations including barring young children from having smartphones and limiting social media use to those 15 and older. In Italy, new guidelines have been issued banning the use of smartphones and tablets in classrooms in kindergartens, primary schools, and lower secondary schools, extending an existing ban on non-academic use of these devices.
Against this background, Safer Internet Forum 2024 will place a particular focus on pillar one of the BIK+ strategy: safe digital experiences and, more specifically, how to protect children and young people against inappropriate content and bullying online.
The Forum aims to take stock of the new DSA rules and their implementation, discuss the risks of exposure to potentially harmful online content and behaviour, including cyberbullying, and explore the tools and strategies currently available or needed to mitigate these risks.
The event is being organised in a youth-led manner, with young people playing an active role in the planning, preparation and delivery of the Forum.
Safer Internet Forum 2023
Last year SIF took place on 20 November 2023 with the theme Empowering Youth with skills for the Digital Decade.
The European Union has designated 2023 as the European Year of Skills: a year which “puts skills centre-stage”, highlighting the critical importance of equipping people with the competences they need to succeed in an increasingly digitised world. This designation seeks to support the EU’s ambitious Digital Decade plans for 80 per cent of all adults to have basic digital skills by 2030. The subsequent European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade set out a specific priority that “Children and young people should be protected and empowered online”. As part of this communication, the European institutions commit to “providing opportunities to all children to acquire the necessary skills and competences to navigate the online environment actively, safely and make informed choices when online.”
-
Watch SIF 2023 wrap up video
Report on the proceedings of Safer Internet Forum 2023
Safer Internet Forum openings and keynote sessions, plenary discussions, interactive youth sessions and deep dives.
