The coronavirus outbreak has led to school closures, distance education, and social containment measures around the world. Data extracted during the first lockdown helped the Greek SIC to set priorities and respond to the new reality. Specifically, the Greek HelpLine observed an increase in calls for cyberbullying, fake news, and grooming during the first lockdown, but a significant reduction in calls for excessive internet use. That reduction though, exclusively observed during the lockdown period, was followed by a big increase immediately after it. Furthermore, data from the Greek Internet Hotline SafeLine indicate a noteworthy increase in the number of reports, especially those related to financial frauds. Lastly, an impressive increase in the traffic to the Greek SIC’s awareness platform SaferInternet4Kids.gr was observed, reaching 184% in unique users during the first lockdown, showing the need for information about safe and responsible use of the internet.

The Greek SIC immediately responded to those needs, engaging in new actions. Specifically, a special page for COVID in relation to technology and distance learning was created. In addition, a series of informative webinars for educators were realized, targeting hot issues such as personal data protection in distance learning, intellectual property rights, protection against misinformation, etc., while the ongoing informative presentations to students continued online and were intensified. Furthermore, the Greek SIC offered educational material to the Digital Citizens' Academy platform of the Ministry of Digital Governance in the effort to inform and digitally educate the wider public. Finally, following INHOPE’s directives, SafeLine issued an illustrative guide on Child Sexual Abuse Material, available on SaferInternet4Kids.gr website as well as Facebook and Instagram.