ISPs including Virgin Media and BT have kicked off a £25 million campaign that will run for three years and feature adverts and other marketing materials.

The aim is to educate parents about the dangers of issues including cyber bullying and the wide availability of adult content and to show them ways of safeguarding their children.

Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge said: “Being online opens up huge opportunities for us all and we believe technology helps make good things happen.

“But there are also questions and challenges we need to tackle and, with significant support from across the broadband industry, this nationwide campaign will help ensure all our customers make the most of the parental controls, tools and information we provide to help them stay safe online.”

BT boss Gavin Paterson added: “We’ve been focused on the issue of online safety since we developed the world’s first Cleanfeed filter to block child abuse images and made the technology available free to other ISPs across the world a decade ago.

“BT will be launching a whole-home filter shortly to add to the tools we already make available for free to our customers, but awareness, expert advice and support are crucial in making sure that parents feel confident in using the protections that are offered by ISPs.”

The campaign is also supported by Sky and Talktalk.