Safer Internet Day

The European strategy to create a Better Internet for Kids

Young people and children are today amongst the biggest user groups of online and mobile technologies in Europe, going online at an increasingly young age.

Children need quality content online to stimulate their imagination and help them to learn, but they also need the skills and the tools for using the Internet safely and responsibly. The Digital Agenda for Europe aims to have every European digital.              

Young people have particular needs and vulnerabilities on the Internet, which we need to address so that the Internet becomes a place of opportunities for them to access knowledge, to communicate, to develop their skills and to improve their job perspectives and employability.

The "Strategy for a Better Internet for Children" which the Commission launched in May 2012 proposes a series of actions grouped around the following main goals:

• Stimulating the production of creative and educational online content for children as well as promoting positive online experiences for young children
• scaling up awareness and empowerment including  teaching of digital literacy and online safety in all EU schools
• Creating a safe environment for children through age-appropriate privacy settings, wider  use of parental controls and age rating and content classification
• Combatting child sexual abuse material online and child sexual exploitation

The Strategy brings together the European Commission and Member States with mobile phone operators, handset manufacturers and providers of social networking services to deliver concrete solutions for a better internet for children. The Strategy is currently implemented through the Safer Internet Programme where the following work is being carried out:

• Promotion of industry self-regulation.
• Co-funding of a great variety of projects, all aimed at creating a safer online environment for young people, including the INSAFE network.
• Support to Safer Internet Day.
• Organization of the annual Safer Internet Forum (SIF) (Read the 2012 SIF report).
• Enhancement of the knowledge base through specific projects, including EU Kids Online survey.
• Co-operation at international level with other organizations active in the field of child safety (OECD, IGF, Council of Europe, INTERPOL, ITU).