News Overview 2022

The Internet is a place where children and young people can come into contact with hostility toward democracy. At the same time, however, it is also a place where democracy and participation are actively practiced. For example, by participating in online discussions and voting. So on the one hand, children and young people need to be aware of the dangers to democracy on the Internet. But on the other hand, they also need to be excited about the many opportunities for democratic participation. In our new topic area, we present all klicksafe materials for this purpose. Among others also the new teaching material "Democracy Gym".

klicksafe is taking a strong stand against cybergrooming and today launches the campaign "WEHR DICH! Against sexualized violence online" in cooperation with the online counseling platform JUUUPORT. The nationwide campaign offers extensive materials that klicksafe has developed for young people together with JUUUPORT and with the support of the Independent Commissioner on Child Sexual Abuse (UBSKM). We provide an overview of the campaign, the materials, and other offers from klicksafe and JUUUPORT on the topic of cybergrooming.

Positive online offerings encourage and inspire children. They provide them with stimuli and enable experiences in safe surfing environments. For example, in apps, on websites or in online games. Positive online content is not only important for children. Parents, teachers and educational professionals should also be aware of good online content for children. To achieve this, the Insafe network proclaims Positive Online Content Awareness Month every September.

The BeReal app sells itself as a positive alternative to other social networks. Negative aspects such as unrealistic self-promotion are not supposed to exist here. This is ensured by the special concept of BeReal: A picture can only be posted once a day. And the time for this is randomly selected by the app. The hype around BeReal is not abating. This makes the platform interesting for children and young people as well. jugendschutz.net has now tested whether BeReal is also suitable for young users.

The "strong warrior" and the "damsel in distress" - when it comes to the representation of gender and sexual diversity in games, clichés and stereotypes are often prevalent. The Games im Unterricht project of the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK) took a closer look at the topic. It also looks at the significance of gender representation in video games for the identity formation of adolescents.

Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox - digital games are firmly anchored in the everyday media lives of children and young people. The selection of games is huge. Free-to-play games in particular are popular with adolescents. A look at the principle of in-game purchases shows that free games can quickly become a cost trap. Young people from the klicksafe Youth Panel and the Youth Panel Saferinternet.at from Austria have created an interactive quiz on this very topic. The quiz is now available to play at the computer and video games trade fair Gamescom in Cologne.

Cool characters, jewels and trophies - that's the colorful gaming world of the Brawl Stars app. The popular gaming app is particularly popular with children. But is Brawl Stars suitable for children? What fascinates young players about it? What risks should guardians be aware of? klicksafe summarizes the most important aspects and tips.

With over 200 million players per month, Roblox is one of the largest gaming platforms for children on the Internet. After Roblox became widespread especially in the USA, the game is now also used by many children in Germany. For parents who want to get an idea of Roblox, we offer the most important information at a glance.

Many educators are using the summer vacations to prepare for the coming school year. We would like to support them in bringing the topic of "safety in digital media" into schools and therefore offer a 15% discount on all klicksafe materials and shipping costs for the entire month of August.

Many popular social media services such as Instagram and Snapchat offer purchase functions. These are also interesting for children and young people. Users can support their idols with subscriptions or gifts and draw more attention to their own accounts. Furthermore, additional content or design elements can be unlocked through purchases and subscriptions. But what measures do the services take to protect children and young people from excessive spending and cost traps?

At the moment, there are more and more reports about a scary character that scares children. This is the character Huggy Wuggy from the video game Poppy Playtime. Abroad, the phenomenon already made the press a few months ago. In the meantime, it has also arrived in Germany. Should parents be worried? We explain what Huggy Wuggy is all about and show how parents can protect their children.

How can children and young people protect themselves from cybergrooming, the initiation of sexual violence on the Internet, and defend themselves against it? In cooperation with the online counseling platform JUUUPORT, klicksafe has developed a brochure and videos for young people. We were supported in this by the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse (UBSKM). In addition, we publish a poster and webcam stickers that help sensitize adolescents to the topic.

Young people between the ages of twelve and 19 regularly come across fake news and hate speech online. In the experience of the young people, the hate is directed in particular against people's sexuality and appearance. At the same time, young people perceive a clear influence of hate speech on society and also on their own actions. These are the findings of "JIMplus Fake News and Hatespeech," a supplementary study to the Youth, Information, Media (JIM) study series, which was published today.

The summer vacations have now begun in most of Germany's federal states. And at the same time, a heat wave is rolling across Germany. Under these conditions, many children spend their free time at home on smartphones, tablets and game consoles. The vacations offer a good opportunity for educators to talk to children and young people about media use and to raise awareness of safe and positive use of the web.

TikTok is being sued in the USA. A nine-year-old girl died after taking part in a challenge. Videos of such dangerous tests of courage circulate on the Internet time and again. In our topic area, we provide information on how to deal with them properly.