Online services and technology offer many opportunities for children and young people to communicate, find information, be entertained and develop their digital skills. However, many online services used by young people were never designed with them as the core audience. The March 2021 edition of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) bulletin explores the topic of age-appropriate design with youth.

On 24 February 2021, Twitter hosted an event for young people. Called the Twitter Youth Summit, the aim of the event was for Twitter to inform young people about how they can be empowered to have their voice heard on social media. Twitter also took the opportunity to hear from youth about problems they encounter online in three distinct areas, namely mental health, cyberbullying and equality, and environment and sustainability. Here, Lorcan Tuohy, member of the Webwise youth panel (part of the Irish Safer Internet Centre) and BIK Youth Ambassador, looks back on the event.

Last year, a group of six Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Ambassadors met in Brussels to launch the Youth Pledge for a Better Internet on the occasion of Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020. Sina and Matej were among them and, in this article, they reflect on what has been accomplished in the last year.

SaferNet Brasil has been working in different ways to strengthen youth engagement since 2012. Considering the intensity of young people’s online presence and their need for self-expression, explore content and contacts, enable civic participation and learn, the mobile connection requires more efforts on self-protection and critical thinking education to allow a responsible autonomy in this new digital connected world.

Young people who attend school outside of the UK can enter the Childnet Film Competition’s first ever international category! Now in its 12th year, the Childnet Film Competition challenges young filmmakers to create a short film in response to a given theme around online safety. The main criteria are that all entries must contain a positive message and be able to educate other young people. 

On Safer Internet Day (SID) 2021 – which we celebrated on Tuesday, 9 February 2021 – the Youth Pledge for a Better Internet celebrated its first year of existence. Below, we look back on the achievements of this youth-led initiative in partnership with industry representatives from the Alliance to better protect minors online aimed at making online platforms’ terms and conditions more age appropriate.

Lili Leißer, Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Ambassador and Youth Coordinator at the Austrian Safer Internet Centre, took part in the online event organised by the European Commission on Safer Internet Day, on Tuesday, 9 February 2021. In this article, she reflects on the progress accomplished in the framework of the Youth Pledge.

Just like with most events this year, Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2020 took place online, but this did not stop the Austrian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) from inviting young people to become part of the safer internet community. The difference was that instead of 20 young people from all over Europe being usually invited to Brussels, this time almost 50 young people could participate in several events.

On Tuesday, 3 November 2020, the Insafe network held a pre-event at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), “The coronavirus pandemic: A global crisis is showing us how to live online”. During the event, two youth panellists shared their experiences of the digital environment during lockdown.

On Tuesday, 24 November 2020, the first side event of Safer Internet Forum (SIF) took place online, with a focus on Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth. During this session, two lines of youth participation work within the remit of BIK were discussed, including the Youth Pledge for a Better Internet, a youth-led initiative in partnership with industry on age-appropriate design launched on Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020.