The Walt Disney Company EMEA, in collaboration with Childnet International, is showing its support for Safer Internet Day with a range of activities aimed at keeping young people safe online, whilst also bringing awareness of the matter to parents, guardians and caregivers.
This year’s, Safer Internet Day theme, on it’s 20th anniversary, is ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’, celebrating young people’s voices at the heart of the day, and giving them the chance to lead discussions on online safety.
Disney, an official supporter of Safer Internet Day, is providing information to help understand responsible digital media use, such as these Internet Safety Tips for parents, which are designed to help parents and carers start a dialogue with children about staying safe online, while enjoying all that the online experience has to offer.
Disney’s streaming platform, Disney+, also provides parental control options all-year round, including the ability to establish individual viewer profiles with corresponding rating settings. Disney+ offers a “Kids Mode” experience, which is the space for the youngest audiences to engage with positive content that has been purposefully curated by people, not algorithms. This helps keep all families safe and happy whilst using the platform, no matter their age.
Amy Phillips, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Corporate Responsibility at Disney EMEA said: “Safer Internet Day’s mission to help young people stay safe whilst using the internet is more important than ever. At Disney, we’re committed to creating inclusive and positive online experiences as well as promoting safety across our digital platforms. This includes sharing recommendations on best practices and tools for families as well as robust parental controls on Disney+.”
Disney has supported Childnet International since 2014 and is also a sponsor of the Childnet Film Competition, which is open to all young people (aged 7-18) based in the UK, inviting them to enter the challenge of creating a short film about internet safety. The winning entries from the 2022 competition can be seen here.
Across the wider company, the Disney Digital Wellness Grants Portfolio provides grants to non-profit organizations that educate children, parents and teachers about digital citizenship and positive, safe and responsible use of technology. In 2022, Disney funded nine organisations and projects across EMEA, including the Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund, Bulgaria), ChildNet (UK), Dutch Media Literacy Network (Netwerk Mediawijsheid, Netherlands), Emirates Safer Internet Society (eSafe, UAE), European Association for Viewers’ Interests (EAVI, Belgium), FragFINN (Germany), Internet Watch Foundation (IWF, UK), Media Monitoring Africa (South Africa), Paradigm Initiative (Nigeria) and the Watoto Watch Network (Kenya).
These organisations use Disney’s grant support to help them create digital wellness activations in their regions to promote safety online for children, parents and teachers locally.