Take part!Safer Internet Day 2025: No likes for lies! Recognize extremism, populism and deepfakes online

Ludwigshafen, 31.10.2024 | The strategic flooding of social media with disinformation and the rapid development of technologies for creating deepfakes are making it increasingly difficult online to distinguish fact-based content from manipulated content or false information. For Safer Internet Day 2025 (SID25) on February 11, the EU initiative klicksafe is presenting the topic "No likes for lies! - Recognize extremism, populism and deepfakes online", the EU initiative klicksafe is focusing on educating and empowering children and young people to recognize false information as well as populist and extremist narratives. At the same time, the initiative is calling on people across Germany to register Safer Internet Day activities with klicksafe. Whether schools, companies, authorities, media companies, start-ups or associations - everyone who is concerned about online safety and media literacy is called upon to actively participate in Safer Internet Day, either on the main topic or with their own topics for a better Internet.

Extremism and manipulation on the rise

Young people use social media in particular to find out about current world events. The massive presence of misinformation, often in combination with (extreme) right-wing content on youth-oriented social media platforms such as TikTok, therefore presents young people in particular with major challenges when it comes to correctly evaluating and classifying information. According to the JIM Study 2023, 42% of the young people surveyed have already been confronted with extreme political views online and 40% with conspiracy narratives. Right-wing populist actors in particular use the wide reach of social media to spread their racist and anti-democratic narratives. Increasingly, AI-generated deepfakes are also being used to emotionalize and fuel extreme positions. In this way, false or misleading information reaches an audience of millions in a short space of time and increasingly threatens our democratic values. We are all called upon to do something to counter this.

Promoting media literacy among young people

With Safer Internet Day 2025, klicksafe wants to help promote information and media literacy in the sense of critical, reflective judgment and fact-based opinion-forming and to strengthen respectful and mature discourse skills. With the campaign "No likes for lies! Recognize extremism, populism and deepfakes online" also reinforces democratic values and promotes democratic skills among children and young people.

klicksafe is calling: Register now and take part!

klicksafe and numerous institutions - including yours? - are offering a wide range of events and campaigns throughout Germany for Safer Internet Day.Whether workshops, lectures, teaching units, webinars, podcasts or discussion panels - participants can now register their events and campaigns for Safer Internet Day on the SID campaign website. In 2025,campaigns can also be registered and take place throughout February for the first time.

Promote media and democracy literacy in your area directly and immediately with your campaign. Register your events, activities or campaigns for Safer Internet Day 2025 now on the SID website.

Set an example with us!

No likes for lies! All content, discussions and dates can be found nationwide under the hashtags #SID25 and #SID2025. In the social media, klicksafe will also accompany the day of action with its own social media campaign.

SID registration form: klicksafe.de/sid25/register

SID website: klicksafe.de/sid