Safer Internet Forum 2021 is here!

The 2021 edition of the annual Safer Internet Forum (SIF) kicks off today, Wednesday 6 October, with a focus on Shaping a #DigitalDecade4YOUth.

Date 2021-10-06 Author BIK Team Section awareness, news Topic media literacy/education Audience children and young people, media specialist, organisations and industry, parents and carers, research, policy and decision makers, teachers, educators and professionals
Safer Internet Forum 2021 logo

This year’s Forum will showcase key findings from recent consultation exercises, amplifying the voices of children and young people to deliver a vision for a #DigitalDecade4YOUth. The event will highlight the priorities that different groups, including parents, carers and teachers, have identified in order to fulfil children’s rights in a digital world, while allowing them to engage, create and contribute within safe, ethical and inclusive online spaces.

Following a pre-event on the evening of Tuesday, 4 October 2021 during which the #DigitalDecade4YOUth consultation report was launched alongside a youth-led discussion hosted by the 2021 BIK Youth Panel, Safer Internet Forum 2021 will take place online on Wednesday, 6 and Thursday, 7 October 2021. It will consider what we want the digital world to look like in 2030. We will hear from a number of leading experts in the field who will offer their vision of the landscape over the next decade and discuss what key stakeholders need to do to ensure that we have the internet that we want and need. Importantly, the voices of young people will be present throughout the Forum as they share their hopes and concerns for their futures online.

Additionally, a number of deep dive sessions will explore in more depth the four pillars of the current BIK Strategy which provides a holistic approach to keeping children and young people safe online. Pillar 1 deals with high-quality content for children and young people, Pillar 2 is concerned with stepping up awareness and empowerment, Pillar 3 aims to create a safer online environment for children through approaches such as parental control tools and age verification, while Pillar 4 leads the fight against child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.

Each in their own way, the deep dive sessions will take stock of these pillars, covering key topics and areas such as:

  • Age-appropriate design and the role of age assurance/verification.
  • New and emerging tech, highlighting some of the innovations and developments that we are likely to see by 2030.
  • Ongoing work to eradicate child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
  • Online gaming.
  • The youngest users and the opportunities and challenges that they face online.
  • Harmful online content, experiences and solutions.
  • Digital inclusion to ensure positive online experiences for all children and enable active youth participation.

All sessions will consider challenges, propose solutions and identify the range of actors who can provide them. Further details about the deep dive sessions can be found in the agenda below.

Reflecting on the multistakeholder contributions during the event, the closing session of Safer Internet Forum 2021 will conclude with members of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Panel highlighting priorities for change on behalf of children and young people across Europe. The European Commission will have the final word outlining the next steps to make it happen.

For more information about Safer Internet Forum 2021, visit www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif; outputs will progressively be added over time, and you can also learn more about past editions of SIF at the same location.

Find out more about the #Digital4Decade4YOUth consultation work at www.betterinternetforkids.eu/digitaldecade and access the full consultation report at www.betterinternetforkids.eu/digitaldecadereport.

And follow #SaferInternetForum, #SIF2021 and #DigitalDecade4YOUth on social media for news from the day.

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