The UK’s telecommunications giants – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin, have teamed up for the first time to launch a new child internet safety initiative Internet Matters.
Internet Matters portal went live on Tuesday during a special launch event held at London’s Museum of Childhood, with Pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her mother Janet Ellis as the guest of honor.
Four biggest internet providers of UK have put aside competition for the initiative designed specifically to keep children safe while browsing and educate parents on safely navigating the internet with their children.
“The internet is an amazing tool for children of all ages and is an overwhelming force for good. Internet Matters will help parents to understand the issues children can face online whether they’re five or 15,” said Carolyn Bunting, general manager of Internet Matters.
“We believe this is the first time that the major broadband providers in any country have joined forces for such a venture. The UK is therefore leading the way when it comes to child internet safety.”
Ellis-Bextor said “Mum and I feel really strongly about internet safety and are proud to be working together with Internet Matters to make sure parents know how to get advice.”
With this special initiative, UK will be positioned as world leader in child internet safety as it will help parents to understand the issues children of any age group can face online. The campaign is expected to leverage the reach of all the four ISPs – combined to 90 percent of the UK homes.
Besides its debut, Internet Matters has also published a research report revealing that around three-quarters or 74 percent of the 1,500 parents surveyed, are keen to access more information about online safety.
