by Emily Lynch, Assistant Director of Media Literacy and User Education
This year, the annual Safer Internet Day event, coordinated by Webwise and supported by the Internet Safety Centre, took place in Microsoft’s Dream Space in Dublin, with an audience of online safety practitioners and young people, including 16 members of the Webwise Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) attending and participating in audience discussions, with four members leading an introduction activity for the event, and three members participating in panel discussions.
The full-day event began with an introduction from Jane McGarrigle, National Coordinator of Webwise, who noted that over 200,000 young people had signed up to participate in SID 2025 events. The interest and engagement of young people in the SID event was very evident with a significant proportion of the audience made up of teenagers.
Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee highlighted the need to support the development of emotional awareness so that young people are better able to respond to the various threats online. She outlined how The Digital Citizenship Programme being rolled out by Oide will reach 90,000 primary school pupils this year. She also discussed the importance of working with influencers to determine how they can have a positive influence, as well as the need to support parents and guardians through awareness campaigns.
Iteoluwakiishi (Kiishi) and Ava from the YAP got the day off to a lively start by using a ‘stand up/sit down’ exercise, inviting attendees to agree or disagree on statement like ‘Algorithms do more harm than good’, ‘AI presents both challenges and opportunities’, and ‘what an ideal online space looks like’. The exercise prompted many attendees and YAP members to share their views. The need for an inclusive, public space online was highlighted. While AI was recognised as a useful tool (students are constantly targeted with TikTok studying hacks using AI), it was noted that more monitoring and education is badly needed.
Manon Baert from the 5Rights Foundation discussed the next steps for Safety by Design. She outlined how the problems faced are a systematic issue. Products used by children are often risky by design. The focus of design companies is on maximising engagement, time and reach. Baert emphasised the importance of ‘moving thoughtfully … rather than moving fast and breaking things’ to ensure age-appropriate design.
The keynote speech was given by Professor Debbie Ging from Dublin City University. She discussed the incredibly lucrative influencer industry, which is worth about $24 billion, with 50 million people involved worldwide. She outlined the various issues around misinformation, algorithms, online hate, toxic masculinity and the agendas of the manosphere. Professor Ging also highlighted the need for better content moderation, the need for algorithm literacy, and a better understanding of the history of the internet and social media. There is a need to empower young people to be creators and to have the tools to reimagine.
Other highlights of the day included:
- A panel discussion entitled ‘Under the Influence?’ featuring Fiona Jennings (Head of Policy and Public Affairs at ISPCC), Mark Walsh (Head of Market Insights Unit at the CCPC) and Sarah from the YAP.
- A talk by Yves Punie from the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT), entitled ‘The impact of AI and algorithms on everyday life: Understanding opportunities and risks, and preventing harms’.
- A panel discussion on fostering digital media literacy, with Martina Chapman (Media Literacy Ireland), Catherine Cross (National Parents Council), Kevin Doherty (Oide Digital Technologies), Amanda Jolliffe (Microsoft Ireland), and Stephen from the YAP.
- Final reflections on the theme Prepare / Protect / Thrive, with Manon Baert, Professor Debbie Ging, Mick Moran (Hotline), Yves Punie and Mae from the YAP. Topics included the need for a whole-school approach to critical digital literacy, for companies to start designing with and for children to create a culture of continuous learning, as well as ensuring there is constructive dialogue with platforms. Regulation and changing the environment is the way forward.
The closing speech was given by Niamh Hodnett, Online Safety Commissioner, Coimisiún na Meán, who advised that people need to continue reporting harmful and illegal content to the platforms, as this is what holds platforms accountable.
