Citizens' Dialogue in Brussels with Commissioner Mariya Gabriel

As an introduction, Commissioner Gabriel gave an interview to the school radio and answered the following questions: Could you simply explain what a European Commissioner does, what your mission is? What observations have you made about internet practices of younger people that justifies your action? What are the concrete actions put in place by the Commission to protect the youngest from the dangers of the internet? Technology is advancing very rapidly and the decisions of the European Institutions tend to take longer. How do you plan to maintain security online despite this rapid evolution? 

The Commissioner stressed the importance of the digital transition and said that Europe was not late. She stated that she was ‘very impressed by the skills, the enthusiasm and the awareness of the dangers of the 
youngest’.

She also underlined that there is no contradiction between the development of new technologies and online security. 

Pupils’ representatives presented three issues — one for each strand of the #Saferinternet4EU campaign: child online safety, media literacy, cyberhygiene — highlighting a problem or challenge deemed important by the pupils, and propose solutions as follows: 1. The first group focussed on how to keep our devices clean and up-to-date to avoid hacking, phishing and scamming; 2. The second group focused on online safety, and sexting in particular; 3. The final group brought up the question on how to counter the fake in media (fake news, profiles, adds, etc.).

After each presentation, Commissioner Gabriel shortly commented the work presented and underlined the need to mobilize together because girls were more often victims of sexting than boys were.

Answering the questions of the spontaneous and enthusiastic audience, the Commissioner said that we all share the same values and that this should help us to better combat the harmful effects of the internet and to make it a beneficial environment.

Talking about terrorism, Europe has dared and set standards. It was not about preventing large companies from innovating, but from finding the right balance between protection and innovation.

Regarding Article 13 of the Copyright Directive, Commissioner Gabriel specified that it will not prohibit users to upload content on YouTube and other platforms.

The aim is ‘simply to leave the possibility to creators to be paid for their work.’ Finally, the Commissioner called on young people not to be victims anymore but actors in digital development.