A new report has revealed that majority of UK internet users do not take advantage of Internet service provider (ISP) filters designed to restrict access to online pornography and other adult content.
An agreement with the UK Government requires the ISPs to offer network-level filtering to prevent access to sites with adult content or that harm children.
According to Ofcom’s report, between 30% to 40% of Sky customers are using content filtering and just 6% of BT subscribers have activated a filter.
Ofcom said 14% of TalkTalk customers use the company’s HomeSafe filter and 12.4% of Virgin Media customers are using a filter.
About 97% of those using the filters said they were useful and 57% reported that they are aware of the filters.
The number of people using the filters has increased to 26% from 21% since 2014.
According to the report, around 76% of parents have enough knowledge in helping their children manage online threats, and 78% trust their children to use the internet safely.
About half of parents of children aged 5 to 15 prefer to talk to their children and use other methods of mediation. Four in ten said they trust their child to be sensible and responsible.
Around two in ten parents said they do not apply parental controls because their child is always supervised or there is always an adult present.
