The new school year is beginning for many across the globe and, although COVID-19 continues to necessitate at least some distance learning, the realities of bullying – both online and off – remain. A new Microsoft study shows 4 in 10 teens in 32 countries report being "involved" in a bullying incident and, perhaps surprisingly, nearly the same percentage of adults, as well.

Teenagers and adults in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region reported an uptick in online civility and more respectful digital interactions during the COVID-19 global pandemic, results from a new Microsoft research study show. Meanwhile, respondents in Latin America said online civility worsened, punctuated by an increase in the spread of false or misleading information.

The UK Safer Internet Centre (SIC) has been working directly with Facebook to produce a brand new guide for education professionals using Facebook apps.

It's a new year and a new decade, and teens and adults around the world hope that respect, safety and freedom will define online life in the 2020s, new Microsoft research shows.

For World Kindness Day, on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, Microsoft called on teens across the globe to assist adults with online issues. That's because, according to their latest research conducted in 25 countries, teens are considerably better than adults at tracking down useful resources to help resolve digital difficulties.

The new school year is well underway in many parts of the world, and parents may be inclined to share news and photos of their star pupil's success or involvement in new activities. Before you do, however, know that teens around the world say parents share (or "sharent") too much about them on social media – so much so that it's become a concern for more than four in 10.

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.