Radiant Mobile, self-described as “the first-ever Christian mobile carrier,” launched in the US this month, pioneering a new type of phone network that blocks certain content for its users.
Marketed specifically to Christians, Radiant offers age-based content filtering to block access to websites that could be deemed harmful.
Through cybersecurity company, Allot, Radiant organises website domains into 120 categories, some of which are “hard blocked” for anyone using the network, while others are only “blocked”, meaning they can be managed by parents.
Some categories have different access by age – adult, teen, or child – however domains categorised under Satanism, pornography, racism, and several other topics are barred across the board. Categories that are blocked but can be unblocked by parents include gambling, sexuality, and dating.
Unlike other content management solutions – like Covenant Eyes, an app that encourages accountability for porn use by notifying friends or family when users view pornographic content – Radiant cannot be deleted or bypassed.
“We are going to create – and we think we have every right to do so – an environment that is Jesus-centric, that is void of pornography, void of LGBT, void of trans,” Radiant Mobile founder Paul Fisher, told MIT Technology Review.
