Safer Internet Day, on February 6 2024, marks an important moment to come together to address urgent challenges. Governments, civil society, businesses, educators and children from across the globe are mobilising on this day to acknowledge and promote the theme of “Together for a better internet”.
What are Safe Online grantees doing to support a Safer Internet Day?
Social media campaign and video promoting online safety and the importance of keeping safe online.
Engagement of children through educational games on online safety: Childline Zimbabwe, in partnership with the Harare Institute of Technology, developed and deployed an educational game: “Tsuro In Digiland”. The game aims at educating children about how to stay safe online.The initiative was in response to how children make use of the internet for various reasons which include gaming where most of the games they play are “unsafe”. The game has 3 main components that enhance its effectiveness; 1. Educational, 2. Entertaining & 3. Non-addictive. The game is currently available on Google Play Store for android powered devices but will later be available for iOS and Desktop devices as well. The game currently has 100+ downloads and they are now working on the second game that will be targeting a different age-group. “Tsuro in Digiland” was developed targeting the age range of 9-13 years. On Safer Internet Day, Childline will engage children in schools to raise awareness through game based learning.
Download the game: here
Attending and contributing to the symposium ‘Inspiring Change and Driving Innovation in Safeguarding’ at Aston University, Birmingham, U.K.
Leading voices in safeguarding and linguistics and will demonstrate how cutting-edge linguistic research is driving change and leading innovation in online safeguarding. DRAGON-S team has been invited to present as key players in this landscape, including insights from their Online Child Sexual Grooming Discourse publication. The symposium will feature a diverse range of stakeholders, including safeguarding charities, EdTech industry representatives, and academics.
Digital organic campaign targeting parents, teachers and people who are in close contact/care about children. Appointed landing page for SID24 on ECPAT International website focusing on Prevention, Reporting Mechanisms and what ECPAT is doing in the world regarding online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Revolutionising Support for Frontline Heroes! Introducing ‘The Auditor’
This #SafeInternetDay, Kindred Tech is proud of ‘The Auditor,’ a groundbreaking project that merges automation, AI, and lived experiences to create a tool designed to reduce vicarious trauma for frontline workers at call centres and streamline the progress of complaints regarding harmful online content to investigations.
Key Features of ‘The Auditor’:
✨ Vicarious Trauma Reduction: With a focus on the well-being of frontline heroes, ‘The Auditor’ employs innovative Artifical Intelligence (AI) to handle and process distressing content, minimising the impact on those working tirelessly to keep our online spaces safe.
✨ Automated Support: Harnessing the power of automation, this tool expedites the complaint-to-investigation process, ensuring that harmful online content is swiftly addressed.
✨ Lived Experiences Integration: ‘The Auditor’ incorporates real-world experiences, understanding the unique challenges faced by frontline workers, to provide targeted and empathetic support.
This #SafeInternetDay, let’s champion a digital space where our frontline heroes are supported, and harmful content is promptly addressed. ‘The Auditor’ marks a significant step towards a safer, more compassionate online community.
Spread the word, share the message, and let’s empower our frontline workers with the tools they need to make the internet a safer place for everyone!
Release of public promotion of Jaeger. In honour of #SafeInternetDay, Pathfinder Labs is thrilled to unveil Jaeger – a cutting-edge tool designed to monitor live streams and detect harmful content, including child abuse in order to foster a digital space where everyone can connect, create, and communicate without fear.
Key Features of Jaeger:
✨ Real-time Monitoring: Jaeger keeps a vigilant eye on live streams to swiftly identify and flag any harmful content.
✨ Advanced AI Technology: Powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, Jaeger evolves and adapts to stay ahead of emerging online threats.
✨ Child Protection: Commitment to a safer online world includes a focus on detecting and preventing child abuse content.
Protect Children is organising the 4th Annual ReDirection International Expert Webinar that will take place online on 14 March 2023 @15:00 CET. In the webinar, leading experts in the field will uncover the escalating threat of technology-facilitated crimes of sexual violence against children. Protect Children will share the latest findings about the prevalence of child sexual abuse material on the surface web, and present select findings from the Global ‘Our Voice’ Survivor Survey. Register here:
Statement: Alarming Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse Material on Social Media and Instant Messengers
Preliminary findings from Protect Children’s latest research on CSAM users in the dark web reveal that 81% of respondents say that they have encountered child sexual abuse material, or links leading to CSAM, on the surface web, mostly on social media and pornography sites.
It is more urgent than ever to turn the tide on the child sexual abuse material epidemic. Learn more in the statement by Protect Children. Read full statement
Engagement with children, parents and caregivers via the Héroes de Cero (Power of Zero) campaign
The campaign aims to educate families about the milestone moment when they introduce their child to their first device. Using animated videos and a digital parenting toolkit, the campaign sparks open communication about online safety and using technology responsibly, and empowers parents to instil good cyber habits and values of respect and kindness from the moment they introduce their children to their first phone or tablet.
Launching a new subsite focused on Safety Tech- https://www.orthus.ai/
Together for a Safer Digital Future : Panel discussions including participation from youth, digital technology industry and government, interactive activities including games and/or quiz on topics relating to cyber-bullying, ethics on creating and publishing content, social media, reporting of online child sexual exploitation and abuse cases to be organised.
Together for a Safer Digital Future : Panel discussions including participation from youth, digital technology industry and government, interactive activities including games and/or quiz on topics relating to cyber-bullying, ethics on creating and publishing content, social media, reporting of online child sexual exploitation and abuse cases to be organised.
Support for Government commemoration of Safer Internet Day and engagement with young people on online safety. Safer Internet Day is commemorated by the Government of South Africa, led by the Film and Publication Board (FPB) with support from multiple government departments such as Department of Social Development (DSD), Department of Basic Education (DBE), South African Police Service (SAPS), and Department of Communications and Information Technology (DCIT). UNICEF South Africa plans to support the commemoration event, either through a speaker or the engagement with young people.
UNICEF and its implementing partner Agape Youth Movement and Media Monitoring Africa are planning to have youth engagement activities on the occasion of Safer Internet Day.
UNICEF Indonesia, in collaboration with key partners, including the Children’s Forum, is set to organise a diverse range of activities aligned with the national campaign theme using #JagaBareng (caring for each other), which was launched in 2023 for the prevention of Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA). These activities encompass updating the current social media context, launching the Online #Jagabarang jingle choreography challenge, and hosting a webinar.
https://www.unicef.org/indonesia/child-protection/jagabareng
Engagement of children, parents and caregivers in school and community settings and via social and mass media. All the activities will be done as part of the ongoing Ghanaians Against Child Abuse (GACA) campaign/social drive.
✨Engagement with selected schools ( targeting adolescents/ young people)
✨Awareness raising sessions with churches (targeting parents)
✨Media engagement with selected media houses
✨Social media engagement with child online protection messages/assets – via GACA, the government partner and UNICEF social media platforms
✨Sub-national government authorities would also be encouraged to do some community engagements with the Child Protection Community Facilitation Toolkits on online safety.
Attending the Ctrl + Rights International Conference. 5Rights is knowledge partner and developed the concept and agenda of the event together with the Swedish Prince Couple’s Foundation (Prins Carl Philips och Prinsessan Sofias Stiftelse). 5Rights Chair Baroness Kidron will deliver the keynote to the event and Executive Director Leanda Barrington-Leach will participate in a panel on DSA. The conference will take place on Safer Internet Day (Feb 6), in Stockholm, Sweden.
Image: © Safe Online/Vincent Tremeau
71 Member States of the United Nations have come together to make the very first call to action statement urging increased and fast action to remove known child sexual abuse materials online.
More than 45 participants, a combination of researchers supported by the Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund and tech professionals, came together in San Francisco to discuss emerging findings from research and actions that the tech industry can take to protect children online.
Safe Online joins survivors, allies and global child protection organisations to call upon all States, the tech industry and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and end the sexual exploitation and abuse of children online and create a safer digital future for every child.
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