Queen Letizia presides over “International Day of the Secure Internet”

Queen Letizia of Spain presided over the “International Day of the Secure Internet” earlier this week at the National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center in Madrid.

The Queen presided over the event, with 12 and 13-year-olds in attendance, organised by the Secretary of State for Digital Advance in Spain and the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE).

The aim of the “International Day of the Secure Internet” is to promote the safe usage of the internet and positive digital technologies, in respect to children and young people and their surroundings.

The Queen poses for a group photo with the children who participated. © Casa de SM el Rey

Queen Letizia shared her views on “the importance of security on the Internet and the need to favour the use of technology in a responsible, respectful, critical and creative manner,” according to Casa Real, with the two hundred children and educators also participating.

The Minister of Economy and Business, Nadia Calviño also presented Her Majesty with the “Cibercooperator of Honour” in recognition of her work for a safe internet while in the Protocol Room.

The Queen also took addressed the group in the “Auditorium 200” in a ceremony hosted by Luis Hidalgo – the Institutional Relations Coordinator of INCIBE. Lectures were then given by Domingo Malmierca, Deputy Director General of the Learning to See Foundation (“The correct use of the Internet can improve the brains of minors”) and Patricia Núñez Gómez, Director of the Chair of Child and Adolescent Communication at the Complutense University of Madrid (“Diagnosis of the use and repercussions of screens on minors”).

© Casa de SM el Rey

Afterwards, Her Majesty greeted others in attendance in the lobby.

The “Safe Internet Day” (SID) “is an initiative that annually promotes the European Commission through the INSAFE Network and that is carried out simultaneously in more than 130 countries with the objective of promoting the safe and positive use of digital technologies, especially among children and young people, and their immediate surroundings.”