Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – Not just recipients of protection policies and digital education programs, but also key players in the debate on the future of the internet. These are the Young Ambassadors of MOIGE – Italian Parents' Movement, who today brought their reflections on the challenges of the digital world to the Chamber of Deputies' Parliamentary Groups, engaging directly with institutional representatives and experts.
250 students from various Italian cities addressed issues that directly affect their daily lives: from the use of artificial intelligence in schools to the spread of fake news, from digital addiction to the protection of personal data, and even new forms of cyberbullying and online aggression. The discussion was informed by the students' own voices, who submitted questions and reflections developed as part of their educational journey, which were answered by experts in science, education, and digital security.
The meeting featured four thematic sessions: digital citizenship and invisible online risks; artificial intelligence; information, truth, and critical thinking online; and cyberbullying and digital security. The initiative, organized by MOIGE with the support of the Department for Digital Transformation, brought together representatives from institutions, the education sector, and digital security. Participants included Antonio Affinita, Director General of MOIGE; Maria Teresa Bellucci, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies; Luca Artesi, Department for Digital Transformation; and Sandra Cioffi, President of the National Users' Council at Agcom.
Responding to the students' reflections were Ivano Gabrielli, Director of the Postal Police and Cybersecurity Service; Marco Valerio Cervellini, Head of the Awareness Division, National Cybersecurity Agency; Giuseppe Lavenia, Founder and Scientific Director of the Di.te Association; Stefano Vicari, Professor of Child Neuropsychiatry at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; and Marta Cacciotti, Psychotherapist at the School of Specialization in Cognitive Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Alessandro Greco moderated the meeting. The meeting in Parliament is part of the Educyber Generations project, a campaign created with the support of Enel, through which MOIGE promotes student training and active participation in preventing online risks. The project involves a network of 8.583 Young Ambassadors throughout Italy, selected by teachers for their aptitude and sensitivity and trained to become key figures within schools. Through peer education, students raise awareness among their peers about the responsible use of technology and help recognize and combat incidents of bullying, cyberbullying, and other forms of online violence. This educational model values the active role of students and dialogue between schools, families, and institutions, with the aim of strengthening digital awareness among younger generations. Representing this network at the meeting in Parliament were students from twelve schools: Rinnovata Pizzigoni State Comprehensive Institute in Milan; Via NM Nicolai State Comprehensive Institute in Rome; G. Moscati State Technical Institute in Sant'Antimo; P. Scalcerle Higher Education Institute in Padua; Marie Curie Institute of Education in Pergine Valsugana; L. Einaudi Higher Education Institute in Ferrara; V. Bodini Comprehensive Institute in Monteroni di Lecce; R. Mattioli State High School in Vasto; A. Giordano Comprehensive Institute in Venafro; Como Rebbio Comprehensive Institute in Como; Gorgia Vittorini Moncada High School in Lentini; Gaslini/Meucci High School in Genoa.
The need to strengthen digital education is also highlighted by the latest survey conducted by MOIGE in collaboration with the Piepoli Institute in 2025, on a sample of 1.546 middle and high school students. Fifty-five percent of students spend at least three hours a day online outside of school hours, while 23% report having met someone they've only met online in person, and 30% accept friend requests from strangers. Artificial intelligence is already part of students' daily lives: 51% say they use it regularly, a percentage that rises to 71% among high school students. Yet, only 21% have received adequate training on the risks and opportunities of these tools. Furthermore, 33% report having received incorrect information from AI, while 48% have encountered fake news at least occasionally. The data on cyberbullying is also concerning: 7% of respondents said they had been direct victims of it, and 16% had witnessed episodes of online violence. Faced with these incidents, only 12% intervene to protect the victim, and just 5% report the incident to an adult. These figures highlight the importance of complementing educational offerings with rigorous and effective child protection legislation, directly addressing young people's demands for stricter laws and regulations to protect them and for an ever-increasing offering of training, listening, and active participation activities. It is within this perspective that the work of the Young Ambassadors fits: promoting a more informed digital culture, in which young people are not merely the recipients of prevention initiatives, but active participants in building a safer online environment.
"Our kids aren't just asking for answers; they're demanding concrete commitment and clear rules to navigate the digital world safely," Affinita stated. "The Young Ambassadors show us that prevention starts with awareness and peer education. It's our institutional and educational duty to ensure more stringent laws and regulations for their protection and to strengthen the provision of training programs in schools." According to Bellucci, "Young people must be the true protagonists of the digital transition: they cannot passively endure change, nor be left alone in the face of the dangers of the internet. This is why our task is to listen to them and give them the right skills to seize the opportunities of the future, avoiding the risks that could undermine their well-being. Valuable initiatives like 'Young Ambassadors in Parliament' demonstrate the strategic importance of teaming up institutions, schools, and families, sharing a common educational responsibility. The Meloni Government is moving precisely in this direction, with concrete actions and safeguards to protect minors in the virtual space. This is demonstrated by the establishment of the National Listening Day," Bellucci continued, "the €7 million allocated to the Third Sector for the healthy, ethical, and safe use of artificial intelligence and technology, the new barriers to parental control, and Law 70 of 2024, which tightens the rules against bullying and cyberbullying. This is complemented by Law 132 of 2025, which places fundamental rights at the center of development." of AI. We will continue to work for a healthy and inclusive digital ecosystem: innovation must go hand in hand with responsibility, to allow young people to cultivate their talent in complete freedom and safety.
For Cioffi, "MOIGE's Young Ambassadors demonstrate how young people can contribute to building a safer digital world, promoting fundamental values such as respect, solidarity, and responsibility. Putting them at the forefront of protection initiatives means strengthening prevention and promoting a more informed digital culture. Digital platforms are central to their responsibility. They must ensure safe services from the design stage, combat harmful content, prevent minors from accessing pornography, and limit algorithms that foster addiction and dangerous behavior. The CNU, Cioffi emphasized, believes it is essential to constantly monitor the application and effectiveness of age verification and parental control systems, with updates on the checks performed and the results achieved. Prevention requires increasing investment in digital education and innovative communication, capable of speaking to children, adolescents, families, and teachers in a variety of languages, directly involving young people in the planning of initiatives. An integrated communication plan is needed, using tools and language appropriate for different age groups and audiences to effectively reach schools, families, and communities. The effectiveness of initiatives must be measured by results: people reached, skills, and knowledge. acquired and behaviors changed. This requires a joint commitment from institutions, Agcom, schools, families, and associations, with defined responsibilities and verifiable objectives, to build a coordinated and ongoing prevention strategy. Education and communication are prevention. And the experience of the Young Ambassadors reminds us that engaging young people already means educating. According to Lavenia, "A child should be able to tell an adult what's happening to them online without fear of being judged, scolded, or having their phone taken away. We must ask ourselves how well we listen, especially when they tell us something that scares us or that we struggle to understand. The work of the Young Ambassadors is invaluable because a peer can notice a humiliation, an exclusion, or a cry for help that we don't. But these children must have trained adults behind them, willing to take responsibility for intervening. Bringing their questions to Parliament means acknowledging that they have something to teach us about their experiences and involving them in decisions that affect them. We must respond to their requests with effective rules for the protection of minors and ongoing digital education programs that also involve parents and teachers. It would be difficult to ask children to trust us if, after listening to them, we left everything as it is."
Professor Vicari, meanwhile, says, "Digital technology is an extraordinary resource, but we cannot leave it to young people, who often lack the tools to self-regulate and recognize risks, to manage its pitfalls alone. We need clear rules to protect minors online, platforms that are more responsible, and concrete investment in training parents, teachers, and young people. Prevention, however, cannot be reduced to bans and controls: it requires adults who are present, capable of listening and supporting, and institutions that do not delegate to individual families a problem that affects society as a whole. We must help young people develop critical thinking and awareness, so that technology is a tool for growth and relationships, not a substitute for them." According to Cantelmi, "We are increasingly connected, better informed, more stimulated, but essentially increasingly alone. It's shocking to observe how loneliness, perceived loneliness, reaches such high levels among young people, in some studies even higher than among older people. This is the great paradox of our era: we multiply connections, but we risk impoverishing relationships. Young people today demand protection, but above all, tools to understand and consciously navigate the digital world. Prohibitions and controls, necessary as they are, aren't enough: we need a new educational alliance between families, schools, and institutions. In the age of artificial intelligence, we must educate young people not to delegate to technology the ability to think, choose, and build authentic relationships. Because the real challenge is not to educate young people to be increasingly digital, but to raise increasingly human beings."
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