Safer Internet Day 2020Safer Internet Day 2020: klicksafe educates about influencer power and responsibility

• The focus topics are responsibility, protection of minors, role model function, and the question "Do young people always know exactly who they are following?"
• With the hashtag #checkwemdufolgst, klicksafe calls on social media to always check content and profiles carefully. Using the klicksafe profile picture generator, anyone can give their profile picture in social media the official Safer Internet Day frame and thus draw attention to the topic.
• With a large-scale press event on February 11 at the Friedensburg Oberschule in Berlin, klicksafe prepared this year's Safer Internet Day theme together with more than 150 students and teachers. In a creative phase, 30 ninth graders visualized their wishes for influencers on posters.
• Celebrity panel: Influencers Diana zur Löwen and Charlotte Kuhrt discussed the role of social media stars with the young people. In addition, the students directed their questions to politicians and company representatives. Juliane Seifert, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, and David Miles, Safety Director at Facebook, joined other guests to talk about the responsibility of politics and companies when it comes to the power of influencers to influence opinion, and explored the question "What function do influencers take on these days?"

They follow, like, share, post and comment: Children and young people use the Internet and especially social platforms extensively and with pleasure. An online survey by klicksafe from January 2020 among 13- to 20-year-old children and young people shows: 98% of the young people surveyed know at least one social media service, and two-thirds use Instagram and YouTube on a daily basis. But are they always aware of the influence social media stars have on them? These and other questions were the focus of the official Safer Internet Day event on February 11 at Friedensburg Oberschule in Berlin.

150 students and teachers shaped the day together with numerous prominent guests from politics, society, journalism and the social web. Host Dr. Marc Jan Eumann, Director of LMK - medienanstalt-rlp, classifies the theme of this year's SID: "All over the world today, on Safer Internet Day initiated by the EU, actions are taking place around the topic of 'Safer Internet' - from small events in
schools and libraries to specialist events and expert conferences. Everyone can participate, everyone can be active, a great multi-stakeholder day for a good and fair Internet. Our focus topic at klicksafe this year is 'Idols on the net. Influencers & Opinion power'. My message is clear and simple: use the net, use the large and diverse offer, but #checkwemdufolgst."

Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia, adds, "Of course, opinion is also created on the Net, and we as a society should take it just as seriously as in any other medium. But as is the case with taking things seriously - this also applies in the other direction. For their part, 'idols on the Net' must be aware of the responsibility for society that comes with great reach. That, too, is a matter of course for me.
I'm pleased that we can make a joint contribution to this with klicksafe and today."

The topic of youth protection and the responsibility of companies and politics was discussed by Juliane Seifert, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, with Facebook Safety Director David Miles and the Director of the State Media Authorities NRW, Dr. Tobias Schmid. Birgit Kimmel, head of klicksafe, added an educational perspective to the panel. State Secretary Juliane Seifert commented: "Smartphones and tablets are part of the everyday lives of children and young people. They should be able to deal with digital media in a self-determined and conscious way. This is where klicksafe comes in, providing information and raising awareness for a competent approach to the digital world with numerous offers. But children and young people also need up-to-date protection in the digital world. To this end, we are presenting a modern Youth Media Protection Act that also holds providers accountable."

The influencers themselves also showed their commitment. Diana zur Löwen and Charlotte Kuhrt, both well-known influencers with wide-reaching Instagram channels, spoke about the influence of influencers together with Toyah Diebel, book author and satirical influencer, and other guests from the media and society. It became clear: Influencers play a role in the development of opinions, but also body images, beauty ideals and consumer behavior.
Birgit Kimmel, head of klicksafe, commented: "Social media still play a decisive role in opinion formation. Idols from the net are daily companions for many children and young people and are perceived as confidants. That the influence of influencers on opinion formation and lifestyle is therefore present is not surprising. Therefore, promoting media literacy is crucial and the mission of klicksafe
is more relevant than ever." Also of particular interest was the input from Quang Anh Paasch, spokesperson for Fridays for Future Berlin, who reported on the use of online social media in implementing the goals of their climate movement.

To gain insight into how students think about social media in general and influencers in particular, klicksafe obtained a non-representative online survey of 629 young people between the ages of 13 and 20 in January 2020.

The results make it clear: just under a third of the young people surveyed said that influencers play a role in shaping their opinions. However, personal contacts such as family and friends still come first. One in three respondents say that their opinions are influenced by social media, and 21% even state that they are explicitly guided by influencers in forming their opinions.

When asked what role influencers should increasingly take on, every second respondent expresses the wish that influencers should act as role models and champion socially relevant issues. The topic of environmental protection is at the top of the list (72%).

Further information on this year's Safer Internet Day can be found at here.

klicksafe aims to promote people's online competence and to support them in their competent and critical use of the Internet with a wide range of offers. The EU initiative is politically and economically independent and is implemented in Germany by the media institutions in Rhineland-Palatinate (coordinator) and in North Rhine-Westphalia. On the website www.klicksafe.de, users can find a wide range of up-to-date
information, practical tips and teaching materials on digital services and topics. The target groups are teachers, educators, parents, children, young people and multipliers. klicksafe is the national, German awareness center and is funded by the CEF Telecom program of the European Union. Since 2008, klicksafe has also coordinated the Safer Internet Centre DE, which includes the Internet hotlines of eco, FSM and jugendschutz.net as well as the helpline Nummer gegen Kummer.