#SaferInternetDay 2016

By
Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Yesterday we celebrated Safer Internet Day (#SID2016), an international event when the safety community comes together to raise awareness about protecting people online. To mark the day, we launched our Trust & Safety Council, a new and foundational part of our strategy to ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter and took part in events across the globe. 

Starting as an initiative of the EU SafeBorders project in 2004, Safer Internet Day has grown beyond the EU and is now celebrated in more than 100 countries across the globe. The theme of the day this year is “Play your part for a better internet”, highlighting the fact that every one of us has a specific part to play in keeping the internet safe. 

At Twitter, we are always pleased to participate in #SID2016 activities. Many of our safety partners around the world participated, and we supported them by providing resources, speaking on panels, organising events, and offering Ads for Good grants to spread the word about how they are contributing to make the internet safer for everyone.

Here’s a summary of the activities Twitter was part of for #SID2016 worldwide:

US

  • @ConnectSafely hosted its annual SID event in Los Angeles, which we supported through Ads for Good. You can watch the highlights hereWe promoted a Twitter Chat alongside the National Cyber Security Alliance and @StaySafeOnline, through our @Safety and @TwitterforGood handles

UK

  • The UK Safer Internet Center (@UK_SIC) was live on Periscope from our @TwitterUK office discussing how to stay safe online and on Twitter 

  • @UK_SIC also held a London event at the BT Conference Centre, where our UK Public Policy Manager @NickPickles appeared on a panel discussing how young people can stay safe online and how everyone can play a part in challenging prejudice

Ireland

  • With an Ads for Good grant, @SpunOut promoted its Online Safety Hub, a set of short and easy guides to online safety, privacy and security

  • @Webwise_Ireland held ‘Sexting and the Consequences for Schools’ on Monday at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin

Belgium

  • @ChildFocusNL/@ChildFocusFR launched a Twitter campaign targeted at teens to build awareness on how to get help when dealing with “sextortion”. Their content was promoted with an Ads for Good grant

France

  • E-Enfrance (@eenfance) utilised Ads for Good to promote their free phone number dedicated to helping young people deal with online safety issues
  • AFPI Point de Contact (@AFPI_france) published a comic to educate and encourage young people to get help to deal with “sextortion”, which was promoted through Ads for Good. AFPI also represented Twitter in a panel organised by the Ministry of Education

Italy

  • Telefono Azzuro (@telefonoazzurro) hosted an event at the ABI Congress Centre in Milan on Feb 8 called “Business models through the net and protection of children’s rights” and promoted the day’s activity on Twitter

Spain

  • @PantallasAmigas launched a new video campaign, featuring a girl called Pilar. The campaign featured ten animated stories around the use of her mobile to provide safety advice for young people around mobile game apps, and social media sites, giving suggestions on how and when to take breaks from technology

Turkey

  • In partnership with Facebook and Google, and with support of the BTK (the Information and Communications Technologies Authority), we hosted a Safer Internet Day event in Turkey. There were keynotes and panels about online safety, including a video appearance by the Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs, and Communications and speeches from the BTK President and the Istanbul Education Authority Director. Follow @TwitterTurkey for more information

New Zealand

  • @NetsafeNZ joined Project Positive to launch a ‘Compliments Campaign’ for SID this year. The campaign is designed to encourage children and young people to use the internet and digital technologies in a positive way, and was promoted through Twitter’s Ads for Good

Singapore

  • The Media Literacy Council (@MLCSingapore) encouraged Singaporeans to take the Emoji Face Challenge. A special set of emojis was created to represent the values of Empathy, Respect, Responsibility, and Integrity. Singaporeans posed in the likeness of their favourite emoji and shared the images online with hashtag #BetterInternetSG.

Japan

  • Extending #SID2016 through February, Twitter will co-host an event with NPO CANVAS, #BokuranoTwitter, a safety and digital literacy workshop for teenage users on Feb 28. Participants will discuss safe uses of Twitter and create their own videos and photos that reflect safety messages and positive stories they’ve seen on Twitter. This content will be shared via Twitter with the hashtag #ぼくらのTwitter. The event is the start of a series of workshops through the first half of 2016

As part of our #SID2016 campaigning, we are also releasing a new video in the Twitter Safety Center to raise awareness of our Mute feature. Muting another Twitter users means you will not see that user’s Tweets in your timeline. For more information on Muting accounts, watch the video and read more over at our Safety Centre.

Safer Internet Day gives us a time to reflect upon and review what we’ve done over the last year and what more we can do in the future. In 2015, we made a number of updates to our safety tools and policies, including the ability to import & export and this year, and we will continue to iterate on our tools and policies, with guidance from our safety partners and the newly launched Trust & Safety Council. We hope everyone enjoyed #SID2016 and thank you to all of our partners across the world.