On Tuesday, 5 February 2019, on the occasion of Safer Internet Day (SID), the European Commission announced the next steps in the EU to increase the protection of children and young people on the internet.

UNICEF has launched an Industry Toolkit on Children's Online Privacy and Freedom of Expression. It contains five, rights-based "General Principles" and a practical checklist for companies to review their policies and practices.

On 18-19 April 2018, the third edition of the EMEA Child Safety Summit took place (the first one was held in 2016), organised by Facebook and Google at their respective European headquarters in Dublin. Bringing together multiple experts on child safety online, the two-day summit was a fruitful gathering of stakeholders from the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, pitching their initiatives and resources for safe and responsible use of the internet by children and young people.

As part of the wider Better Internet for Kids project, we regularly liaise with the providers of online services to provide feedback on new apps and services, and real-life insight into some of the challenges which children and young people face online when using such products, as communicated through our network of helplines and the like. Equally, we welcome information on the steps being taken by industry to help to keep users safe online. We recently heard from Yellow on their approach.

Childnet, part of the UK Safer Internet Centre (SIC), is teaming up with Facebook and the Diana Award to deliver a project that will see thousands of young people across the UK trained as peer educators.

On 6 October 2017, a group of 150 experts from various disciplines and organisations around the world presented "The Declaration of Rome" to Pope Francis at the Vatican, pledging to protect children and young people in the digital age. Here, Jacqueline Beauchere, Microsoft Chief Online Safety Officer, shares her experiences from the event.

In this blog, Catherine Russell, Corporate Social Responsibility Lead at Vodafone UK, talks about the challenges parents face in keeping their children safe online, and the importance of helping young people to develop critical thinking skills and digital resilience. Catherine also introduces the latest edition of Vodafone UK's annual Digital Parenting magazine, providing a whole host of practical help and advice for parents, not just in the UK, but across Europe and beyond too.

"Never let truth get in the way of a good story" said Mark Twain in a century where digital devices existed only in the realm of science fiction. More recently, when dealing with the ever-increasing phenomenon of fake news, European policy-makers have drawn on another literary reference: "No one wants a Ministry of Truth", stated MEP Marietje Schaake referencing George Orwell's futuristic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. This analogy has been further used by Vice-President Andrus Ansip who also explained that the European Commission does not seek for a Ministry of Truth either.

We recently reported on the EC-brokered "Alliance to Better Protect Minors Online", which met on Safer Internet Day to launch its statement of purpose. Emilia from Germany attended the event as an Insafe Youth Ambassador. Here she shares her experiences from the day.

Here on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal, we're always pleased to hear from different stakeholders on how they contribute to a better and safer internet for children and young people in their own areas of work and activities.