Internet Matters


Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation based in London, England. Launched in May 2014 by the United Kingdom's largest internet service providers BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the organisation offers child internet safety advice to parents, careers and professionals.

History

Internet Matters was launched on 13 May 2014 with a launch event at the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London attended by guests including Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Janet Ellis and industry experts including Sonia Livingstone. At the time, David Cameron described the launch as 'a significant step forward in our mission to protect our children online'.
Internet Matters is supported by the largest internet service providers in the UK. Between them they have direct relationships with 90% of internet households in the UK. The organisation also works closely with other child e-safety charities and industry bodies including the NSPCC, Childnet, FOSI, the CEOP, search engine Google and TikTok.

Partners

Website

The Internet Matters online portal gives information and guidance about the main e-safety issues children might be exposed to when browsing the internet, as well as safeguarding and parental controls advice.
The portal contains information for parents on the online issues of cyberbullying, inappropriate content, online pornography, online reputation, online grooming, sexting, self-harm, radicalisation and more. The site has published guidance to help parents understand information relevant to their child’s age, the latest in connected technologies, mobile applications, social networking and online gaming.

Connecting Safely Online

Connecting Safely Online is an initiative to help children and young people with learning difficulties tackle online safety issues. It was launched in 2020 alongside Youthworks and in partnership with Meta.

Digital Matters

Digital Matters is an online safety learning platform designed for schools, parents, and children to teach children skills in online safety. It was developed with support from Internet Matters' partner, ESET, and uses manga-style art.
It was shortlisted for the Teach Primary 2022 awards in the App category.

Published research

Cybersafe (2013)

Cybersafe 2013 was a study commissioned to support the launch of Internet Matters. The findings of the study highlighted a clear demand for more information about the risks children face when accessing the internet, at the time of research 74% of parents surveyed stated they wanted to know more. Of the 74%, 18% wanted to learn more about filtering content and blocking access to specific websites.

Back to School (2015)

Over 1000 UK parents were surveyed to identify at what age they thought a child owning a smartphone was OK. The survey revealed that the majority of parents would like a minimum age on smartphone ownership with 10 being the most popular age.

Pace of Change (2015)

Internet Matters commissioned Childwise to carry out a UK-wide study to explore the use and understanding of technology among children aged 7–17, and parents of children this age. The research revealed an increasing gap between parents and children online with the fact that children spent significantly longer online, with girls using smartphones on average 4 hours a day.