Today marks the 20^th edition of Safer Internet Day. The awareness campaign has become a landmark event in the online safety calendar each year, and is celebrated in around 180 countries and territories worldwide.

The day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns of internet safety, from cyber bullying to social networking and digital identity.

This year, the UK Safer Internet Centre is focusing efforts around the theme ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. By asking this question, the Centre is aiming to put young people’s voices at the centre of the day.  

Parents, carers, teachers, government, policy makers and the wider online safety industry is encouraged to take time to listen to children and young people and make positive change together.

All of the UK’s mobile operators have measures in place to promote and support online child safety. Mobile UK has pulled together a number of these initiatives below:

EE

‘Set Up Safe’ is a free SMS service that helps parents and carers set up their child’s phone with safety features, such as adult content lock, spend caps, preventing charges to bill, and blocking calls and texts to premium numbers. EE has also created PhoneSmart Licence, which is an interactive course designed to help children stay safe and be kind online by teaching children about issues like cyberbullying and fake news.

Three

Three’s Safety Portal contains a number of in-depth guides focusing on how customers can protect their devices and personal information from fraud and online threats. The ‘Staying Safe Online’ guides takes parents/carers through the setup of mobile filters for people under 18. These filters help to protect young people from content that’s not meant for them.

Virgin Media O2

Virgin Media O2 has created a Children’s Online Safety Test for parents and carers. This resource is designed to help parents feel confident when talking to their children about online safety. It provides information about include cyberbullying, parental controls, social media and inappropriate content.

Vodafone

This Safer Internet Day, Vodafone launches Digital Parenting Pro, one of the biggest parental controls and safety settings resources in the UK. It has been created in collaboration with Digital Awareness UK to equip parents and carers with all the information and tools they need to keep their children safe online. The content rich hub will be a place for parents, carers (and kids) to get information and help about staying safe online, including tips from NSPCC experts, so adults can feel confident about what their kids are up to online, what social media they use, games they play and threats they might come across.

Further information

Further information about support in place can be found below:

EE

• https://newsroom.ee.co.uk/ee-launches-set-up-safe-service-as-1-in-4-parents-say-their-biggest-worry-as-lockdown-eases-is-keeping-their-children-safe-online/ 
• https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/safety-and-security/content-lock/set-up-safe-manage-childs-phone 
• https://eephonesmart.co.uk/

Three 

• https://www.three.co.uk/your_safety      

 Virgin Media O2 

• https://www.virginmedia.com/blog/online-safety/childrens-internet-safety-test/  

Vodafone 

• https://www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/smart-living/digital-parenting/digital-parenting-pro/

External Websites

• Internet Matters - https://www.internetmatters.org/ 
• BBC Own It - https://www.bbc.com/ownit/about-us/own-it-app-faqs 
• Apple Family Sharing - https://www.apple.com/family-sharing/ 
• Google Family Link - https://families.google/familylink/