Liliane Leißer from Vienna is 21 years old, and has been involved in internet governance since she was 15. She is particularly active against cyberbullying and told us at Domain pulse about her commitment and the challenges for young people who want to join the discussion.

It all started with an incident at school. Liliane Leißer remembers exactly what happened: A nude photo of a classmate suddenly appeared, and was distributed via social media. It was the topic of conversation at school. "Those were my first encounters with cyberbullying," says Leißer. Since then she hasn't let go of the subject. In 2015 and 2017, she took part in the youth programme "Better Internet for Kids" and she is involved in events such as EuroDIG, a Europe-wide discussion platform for internet governance issues. She dedicated her diploma thesis at school to a subject close to her heart - "Youth and Digital Media" and designed a role play dealing with cyberbullying, which earned her 2nd place at the Safer Internet Awards in 2018. "The game is intended to show ways out of cyberbullying. The teachers have a tool that highlights the position of the cyberbullying victim to young people," says Leißer. And where did the young Viennese learn programming? "At school and with the help of lots of YouTube tutorials."

Ideas are not always taken seriously
Since 2018, Lili Leißer has been working as a youth coordinator at the Austrian Institute for Telecommunications in the Safer Internet project alongside her law studies. "I organise the regular youth meetings, but also work on other things such as our Instagram profile."

During her school days, Leißer was the only one interested in topics such as internet governance. "My involvement was considered uncool," she says today with a smile. "Some classmates felt that my work couldn't achieve anything." She admits that it is not easy to gain a foothold in this industry as a young person. "I'm often the youngest at events. My ideas are listened to, but rarely taken seriously," says Leißer with annoyance. "But my generation has grown up digitally." One problem is the language. "Internet governance is a topic that is discussed at a very high level at conferences." This makes it difficult for young people to participate. "Much more must be invested in youth programmes so that more young people can experience how much fun it is and how important it is to get involved. That way young people will learn that they are experts in their own way."

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