Child Safety Title

The 7th Annual Future of Transport Conference

The Child Safety Online Conference 2022

Event Overview

The European Child Safety Online Conference 2022 will gather policymakers, industry players, national authorities representatives as well as civil society experts to review the provisions of the new European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) and of the proposal for the new regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, as well as discuss the extent to which the initiatives proposed are fit-for-purpose and are likely to remain future-proof to address the pace of digital innovation. It will explore how the proposed rules will interact with other EU and global policies and self-regulation initiatives aimed at tackling the different online risks that children are exposed to, and at making the online world a better, safer, fairer place.  It will also focus on the ongoing efforts undertaken to step up the fight against the creation and propagation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. Finally, it will examine the role that technology and innovative solutions can play in achieving these objectives, feature examples of initiatives undertaken in Member States to protect children online, identify best practices, and ask what more is needed to equip children with the necessary digital skills and tools to safely benefit from what the Internet has to offer.

Key Themes

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Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content

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Digital Literacy to promote safe, healthy and responsible behaviour online

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Strengthening the fight against the creation and dissemination of CSAM

Session Replays

Confirmed Speakers

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Dubravka Šuica

Vice President for Demography and Democracy

European Commission

Johansson 240

Ylva Johansson

Commissioner for Home Affairs

European Commission

Vit 240

Vít Rakušan

1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior

Czech Republic

*via pre-recorded speech

Untitled design (94)

Julie Inman Grant

eSafety Commissioner

Australia

*via pre-recorded speech

Philipp Amann 240

Philipp Amann

Head of Expertise & Stakeholder Management

Europol

Catherin Bauer Bulst

Cathrin Bauer Bulst

Head of Unit Security in the Digital Age, DG HOME

European Commission

June Lowery-Kingston 240

June Lowery-Kingston

Head of Unit "Accessibility, Multilingualism & Safer Internet"
DG CONNECT

European Commission

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Melissa Mathieson

Director of Regulatory Futures

UK ICO

Susie Hargreaves

Susie Hargreaves OBE

CEO

Internet Watch Foundation

(virtual speaker)

Untitled design (93)

Anna Rywczyńska

Head of the Digital Education Team at NASK

Coordinator of the Polish Safer Internet Centre

Emilio Puccio

Emilio Puccio

Secretary General, Intergroup on Children's Rights

European Parliament

Alexandra Evans 240

Alexandra Evans

Head of Safety Public Policy, Europe

TikTok

(virtual speaker)

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Catherine Garcia-van Hoogstraten

Director Digital Safety, European Government Affairs, Microsoft

Microsoft

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Dave Miles

Safety Policy Director EMEA

Meta

Untitled design (90)

Ann Becker

Head of Policy and Public Affairs

Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE)

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Julie Dawson

Chief Policy & Regulatory Officer

Yoti

Hans Martens 240

Hans Martens

Head of Digital Citizenship Department

European Schoolnet

Untitled design (97)

Leanda Barrington-Leach

Director of International Advocacy & Head of European Affairs

5Rights

Dirk Bosmans 240

Dirk Bosmans

Director of Operations

Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) System

Untitled design - 2022-06-08T142550.036

Iverna McGowan

Director

Europe Office of CDT

Claire-Marie Healy 240

Claire-Marie Healy

EU digital policy expert

Friederike Berfelde 240

Friederike Berfelde

Associate

Brunswick Group

Laura Sboarina 240

Laura Sboarina

Principal Analyst

Cullen International

Agenda

If you are interested in speaking in any of the below sessions, please contact Rebecca Matheson at childsafety@forum-europe.com / +44 (0) 2920 780 077.

Note: All timings are in Central European Summer Time (CEST)

From a very young age, children use the Internet to learn, play, interact with others and express themselves – this has never been truer than during the Covid-19 pandemic when educational, social and entertainment interactions all moved to the online world. This online space however, was never designed for children and therefore exposes them to serious risks. In order to leverage the benefits that the Internet brings to young people’s life while tackling the harms and challenges it represents, and in line with the objectives laid out in the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles of January 2022, the European Commission recently released a new European strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+), promoting a positive, inclusive, empowering and safe online environment for children and teenagers, along with a proposal for a Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.

The Child Safety Online Conference 2022
2022-06-30
09:30 - 10:00
Registration Opens & Networking
10:00 - 10:30
Keynote Speeches
Keynote Speeches image
Dubravka Šuica
Vice President for Demography and Democracy, European Commission
Keynote Speeches image
Vít Rakušan (via pre recorded speech)
1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Czech Republic
10:30 - 11:50
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content

Children are accessing the Internet from an increasingly younger age and across a wide range of devices, often without adult supervision, leaving them vulnerable to a number of risks including, but not limited to, exposure to illegal and harmful content, dark patterns, privacy infringements and commercial targeting. Making the online world a safe, positive and inclusive environment for children has been a key focus area for policymakers worldwide in the past decade, while concepts such as ‘safety-by-design’, responsible use of data and platform liability, have emerged at the forefront of the policy thinking for tech regulation, especially with regards to children’s use of the Internet.

Following the release of the new European Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) in May 2022 and given the focus on liability and accountability issues of the tech industry as part of the DSA file, this session will explore the extent to which these regulatory efforts will be enough to ensure positive and age-appropriate experiences for young people online, and discuss what more the tech industry can do to embed considerations around online child protection in the design, development and deployment of digital products, services and platforms – even if their services are not primarily targeted at children or teenagers. This discussion will be held as new and emerging technologies such as augmented and extended reality are expected to permeate our lives in the future, bringing new challenges to the protection of children online.

  • As a preventative concept rather than a response to harms after they occur, to what extent does safety-by-design concretely work, and are there challenges that this approach cannot address?
  • What are the limitations of the existing age-verification processes of users online? Do codes of conduct and standards on age assurance and age-appropriate design exist? How can risk assessment and mitigation measures be further encouraged?
  • How can transparency around the collection of children’s data as well as the user-friendliness of privacy settings controls for children and parents be improved? How can it be ensured that the data minimisation principle is respected when it comes to the use of children’s data? How efficient are the provisions of the GDPR in addressing the challenges posed by digital advertising methods targeted at children and how will these interact with provisions including in the DSA?
  • In an era where online content is increasingly user-generated, what tools and processes are currently used to identify and remove content that would be harmful to children? To what extent has measures included in the revised Audio-visual Media Services Directive enhanced the protection of children from harmful content and inappropriate commercial communications? What more can be done by industry players to tackle exposure to such content and develop user-friendly reporting tools for young users? 
  • With BIK+ aiming to support the market for interactive, creative and educational online content, what is being concretely proposed to promote the creation of high-quality and diversified content for children? 
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
June Lowery-Kingston
Head of Unit "Accessibility, Multilingualism & Safer Internet", DG CONNECT, European Commission
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
Dave Miles
Safety Policy Director EMEA, Meta
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
Melissa Mathieson
Director of Regulatory Futures, UK ICO
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
Leanda Barrington-Leach
Director of International Advocacy & Head of European Affairs at 5Rights
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
Julie Dawson
Chief Policy & Regulatory Officer, Yoti
Panel 1 – Ensuring a positive online experience for children: Child Safety-by-design, responsible use of children’s data and age-appropriate content image
Claire-Marie Healy
EU Digital Policy Expert
11:50 - 12:10
Keynote Speech
Keynote Speech image
Ylva Johansson
Commissioner for Home Affairs, European Commission
12:10 - 13:15
Networking Lunch
13:15 - 13:30
Keynote Speech
Keynote Speech image
Julie Inman Grant (via pre-recorded speech)
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner
13:30 - 14:50
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing

The online world opens up new opportunities for children and teenagers to learn, communicate, socialise, entertain themselves, as well as to support their creativity and promote critical thinking. Education, risk awareness and skills development are therefore critical to improve digital literacy and to ensure that ‘digital natives’ become ‘digital citizens ‘, who can use technology safely and responsibly.

As the level of digital literacy and education in Europe varies greatly between Member States and as tech innovation is evolving rapidly, this session will explore ways in which EU policymakers, the tech industry, national governments, educators and parents can work together to create stimulating and inclusive experiences for children and teenagers by teaching them to recognise online risks, arm them with the necessary skills and tools to use the Internet safely as well as promote healthy and responsible behaviour online. 

  • What is currently being done to foster digital literacy among minors, parents and teachers in Europe and to educate them on how to identify online risks for children and what action to take? What tools are available to help protect and empower young people online, and how can we further raise awareness about these? 
  • How can digital wellbeing be further supported and what more needs to be done to address possible mental health issues in children and teenagers linked to the use of social media? What is needed to protect children and teenagers against online harassment, cyberbullying, and other abuse especially when other young people are the perpetrators of this kind of attacks? What is being done to improve children’s critical thinking against misinformation and to teach them about their digital footprint and online reputation?
  • As the perception of risks and harms differs between a young child and a ‘late teen’, how can it be ensured that initiatives remain targeted appropriately towards different age groups? To what extent can children themselves engage with policymakers and inform initiatives aimed at developing digital resilience, online safety and literacy? 
  • As education falls under Member States’ competencies in the EU, how can information exchange about successful initiatives in this area be encouraged with the view of harmonising best practices? What role can the  network of National Safer Internet Centres play in this area?
  • Are provisions included in the renewed Digital Education Action Plan enough to provide the necessary investments and tools to close the digital divide and to provide all children equal access to the opportunities digital technology brings?
  • What is being done to support developing countries in the creation of their own digital literacy initiatives?
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
June Lowery-Kingston
Head of Unit "Accessibility, Multilingualism & Safer Internet", DG CONNECT, European Commission
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
Alexandra Evans
Head of Safety Public Policy, Europe, TikTok
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
Anna Rywczyńska
Head of the Digital Education Team at NASK and Coordinator of the Polish Safer Internet Centre
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
Ann Becker
Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE)
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
Hans Martens
Head of Digital Citizenship Department, European Schoolnet
Panel 2 – Digital Literacy: Empowering Children, Fostering Responsible Behaviours and Promoting Digital Wellbeing image
Friederike Berfelde
Associate, Brunswick Group
14:50 - 15:00
PEGI, case study of a pan-European self-regulation system
PEGI, case study of a pan-European self-regulation system image
Dirk Bosmans
Director of Operations, Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) System
15:00 - 15:20
Coffee Break
15:20 - 16:30
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM

According to the IWF, Europe has now become the largest host of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in the world, while the volume of such material circulating globally on the Internet has significantly and continuously increased in the past decade – further intensifying during the Covid-19 pandemic, as both children and child sex offenders spent more time online. These alarming trends have prompted industry players to take voluntary measures to detect and remove CSAM in recent years, as well as calls for urgent and efficient actions at EU policy level to strengthen and accelerate the fight against this abhorrent crime – culminating in the adoption of the e-privacy derogation and the release of the proposal for a legislation to effectively tackle sexual abuse which establishes new obligations for companies to detect and report CSAM. While these are crucial steps in the fight against the creation and spread of this content, privacy and civil rights considerations need to be taken into account as concerns have arisen regarding a general monitoring of interpersonal communications and mass surveillance. It is also argued that voluntary measures and policy initiatives won’t be enough to effectively combat the spread of this material, and that further cooperation with, and between, national authorities, law enforcement agencies and industry representatives at EU and global level, alongside the support of technical innovation will be key to tackle this dramatically evolving threat.

This session will discuss how existing efforts in the fight against CSAM can be strengthened without jeopardizing fundamental rights, EU principles and core values. It will also explore the role that cross-sector collaboration, internal and global coordination, as well as the use of digital technology can play against the creation and dissemination of this content.

  • What are the latest trends in CSAM prevention, detection, removal and prosecution processes? Is intelligence shared effectively? How is collaboration between industry, governments, law enforcement authorities and NGOs in this area working, and what further solutions are needed to fill the existing gaps?
  • How will the new legislation making the detection and reporting of CSAM by companies obligatory work in practice? How can it be ensured that these new provisions remain proportionate, technology-neutral and future-proof, and that they complement provisions included in existing and future legislations, such as the GDPR, the E-evidence file, the DSA and AI Act? Can the encryption conundrum ever be solved?
  • What role do technologies such as AI, hashing, filtering, natural language processing, play in the fight against the spread of CSAM? What more can be done to improve Age verification processes and to promote digital solutions that simultaneously support privacy-by-design and safety-by-design principles, while helping with the detection of such material and grooming techniques, as well as with the identification of both victims and perpetrators of this crime, without which prosecution cannot occur?
  • To what extent will the creation of the new EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse (EUCSA) to prevent and counter child sexual abuse concretely help with cross-border investigations? How will collaboration with Europol work in practice?
  • What needs to be done to step up and coordinate international information exchanges and can a global strategy to combat child abuse material and inappropriate content ever be reached?
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Philipp Amann
Head of Expertise & Stakeholder Management, Europol
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Susie Hargreaves OBE
CEO, Internet Watch Foundation
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Cathrin Bauer Bulst
Head of Unit Security in the Digital Age, DG HOME, European Commission
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Emilio Puccio
Secretary General, Intergroup on Children's Rights, European Parliament
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Iverna McGowan
Director, Europe Office of CDT
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Catherine Garcia-van Hoogstraten
Director Digital Safety, European Government Affairs, Microsoft
Panel 3 – Collaboration and Innovation: Stepping up the fight against CSAM image
Laura Sboarina
Principal Analyst, Cullen International
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Sponsors & Partners

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Sponsorship Opportunities

Our packages have been designed to enable sponsors to take advantage of the enhanced face-to-face networking benefits that are made possible by a physical meeting environment, whilst also benefiting from the additional exposure and outreach that virtual events offer in terms of larger audience numbers.

To discuss sponsorship and visibility opportunities at The Child Safety Online Conference 2022, please contact Rebecca Matheson on childsafety@forum-europe.com / +44 (0) 2920 783 077.

Why sponsor the Child Safety Online Conference 2022?

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Exclusive speaking positions  | Your organisation can contribute to the discussion, either in person or remotely.

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Engaging and Interactive format | Engage in a fully immersive and interactive debate with decisionmakers, businesses and policymakers, either onsite or online.

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EU and global outreach | Convey your message to a broad and international audience.

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Networking opportunities | Networking opportunities will be available to all in person attendees throughout the day. Both in person and virtual attendees will be able to connect using our virtual event platform’s networking feature. Virtual private meeting rooms can also be booked

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Visibility Opportunities | Ensure maximum visibility through branding in the room, on the event website, virtual platform, and marketing activities.

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Exhibition and demos area | Showcase your products and solutions or share a position paper with the audience at both onsite & digital exhibition booths.

Past Sponsors

Venue

Sofitel Brussels Europe
Paul-henri spaak 2
Pl. Jourdan 1, 1040
Bruxelles, Belgium

Event Platform

The virtual component of this event will be taking place using Forum Europe’s virtual solution. For more details, please visit forum-europe.com

Contact

For more information on any aspect of this event, please contact Rebecca Matheson using any of the details below.

Rebecca Matheson
Event Manager
Forum Europe

childsafety@forum-europe.com

Tel: +44 (0) 2920 783 077 

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