Last week, a new phone network, called Radiant Mobile, was released in the United States. Its developers call it “The First Ever Christian Mobile Carrier.” It prevents users from accessing “un-Christian” content, ranging from other religions to pornography to anything related to the LGBTQ+ community. Although forming this type of network is legal, it poses threats to users’ freedom of choice and information.
Evangelical algorithms
In the 1950s, a decade sometimes called the “age of conformity,” Americans felt strong fears of communism. To distinguish themselves from the communist Soviet Union, they emphasized the importance of “traditional” values. This included promoting the stay-at-home wife as a contrast to the working woman in the Soviet Union, and persecuting queer people in government jobs. Additionally, while the Soviets were notoriously anti-religious, American church membership grew at a faster rate than the booming population.
But it wasn’t only the communist craze that led more Americans to embrace religion. There was also the television craze. The percentage of Americans with a TV in their home increased from 9% to 90%. It was the first time television became something that brought the family together. So, evangelicals like Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who hosted the show Life Is Living, became influential “televangelists,” putting a contemporary spotlight on ancient beliefs.
Today, what we have is a social media craze. So Evangelical Christians adapted. Today, we don’t have televangelists. At least, not nearly as many. But a new generation of charismatic, passionate, Christ-following influencers, some of whom promote Christian nationalism, homophobia, or “tradwife” lifestyles, are adapting similar messages for an algorithmic age.
Like all other political or religious content, this is protected by free speech. Other Christian tech designers, however, have tried to create online networks that restrict a user’s content. One example is Victory Shield, formerly known as Covenant Eyes. Two or more people must download this software to their devices together. If one of them watches any pornography, it sends a notification to the other(s) for “accountability.”
In late 2023, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed that he used this software with his then-seventeen-year-old son. Most porn-blocking sites simply prevent users from seeing this content without alerting others. The “accountability” feature of Covenant Eyes, by comparison, gives unnecessary, excessive, and potentially dangerous power to another person.
“Radiant” is the most advanced and most restrictive kind of Christian software. T-Mobile supports it, which means that Americans across the country can access it if they choose. It can limit its users from accessing 120 types of “un-Christian” content. No users, regardless of age, are able to access certain categories – including “weapons,” “self-harm,” “pornography,” “racism,” and “cultism.” Adults can unblock other content for themselves and/or their children. This includes “abortion,” “anorexia and bulimia,” “piercing and tattoos,” and “sexuality,” (including sex ed).
Sexualization and oppression
While the service does not have an “LGBTQIA+” category that it blocks, it groups LGBTQ+ content under “sexuality.” The developers made it clear they wanted this content off their “Jesus-centric” network. (Or, at least, that users could ignore it.)
Chris Klimis, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Radiant Mobile, claimed this move promoted “freedom of choice” for parents.
Radiant Mobile’s Founder, Paul Fisher, was more brazen. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, he claimed, “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.”
It aligns with the current queerphobia in right-wing politics. Project 2025, a federal policy blueprint created by the right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, has guided many of Trump’s actions in his second term. It notably defined all LGBTQ+ content as pornographic. Last year, Utah Senator Mike Lee, an author of Project 2025, attempted to pass a bill that would have redefined obscenity (a very narrow category of sexual content, which must have no additional purpose or value, and which broad communities must find offensive) to include anything that could be both scandalous and otherwise non-purposeful. When the “community” standard is removed, and LGBTQ+ content is characterized as inherently sexual, this type of “anti-obscenity” law could, in practice, also limit any LGBTQ+ representation in media.
While Senator Lee’s bill failed, similar state laws have succeeded. In April of 2024, Kansas passed Senate Bill 394. This bill placed “pornographic” content, including material deemed “harmful to minors,” behind an age-verification paywall. It relied on an older law that included “any representation…of homosexuality” as “harmful to minors.” This language is broad enough to include even romantic affection. “Don’t Say Gay” laws, such as the one passed in Florida in 2022, prevented classrooms from discussing LGBTQ+-related identities by framing them as inherently sexual and dangerous to minors. As a result, officials can remove children’s books like And Tango Makes Three, which tells the story of two male penguins who adopt a baby penguin, for “obscenity” despite the book containing nothing obscene by any reasonable standard.
Moreover, this association between LGBTQIA+ identities and “porn” is dangerously dehumanizing. A 2022 study found that, in areas with transphobic laws, residents have high rates of viewing transgender porn. Similarly, some high-profile homophobic conservatives like Lindsey Graham, a senator, and Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, have been rumored to be LGBT. Infamously, Grindr, a dating and hookup app for queer men, has a tendency to crash during Republican events.
Since the Internet is the Internet, people usually react to such scandals with jokes. Generally, these jokes suggest that Republicans secretly “love” what they pretend to “hate.” However, assuming that is a dangerous mistake. The sexualization of LGBTQ+ people in law and in their personal lives is very consistent and far from loving. If the only kinds of images people see of a certain group are pornographic, then this group is no longer seen as well-rounded people with dreams, opinions, morals, relationships, hobbies, or histories. They simply are what sex itself is in an American, Christian context – condemned, but wanted at the same time.
With Radiant Mobile, users cannot access sexual content of any kind. However, because people often interpret sexuality differently, these policies can erase LGBTQ+ existence in ways that do not erase heterosexuality. We take for granted that, if a prince and princess kiss each other in a movie, this is not pornographic. However, that might not be the case for two princesses or two princes.
Regardless of whether this mobile network blocks LGBTQIA+ content or not, it would be difficult for users to exist in the world without ever learning about these identities. The difference that the app’s censorship will make is not whether or not these users learn about queerness, but how. If one learns about LGBTQIA+ people as people, they will be more likely to accept them and not fetishize them compared to someone who only knew of queerness as a fetish.
Violent delights
The Radiant profile network also blocks many forms of “violence,” including terrorism and self-harm. It blocks “uncomfortable” topics that, in some cases, might involve violence, such as racism.
A ban on “terrorism” is also worrying from an LGBTQ+ context. This is because a recently released U.S. counterterrorism memo describes people who are “radically pro-transgender” as terrorists.
The document also has a political bent in who it defines as terrorists. It claims that “violent left-wing extremists,” “anarchists,” and “anti-fascists” are major threats. These labels are, like all political labels, amorphous. Certainly, left-wing, anarchist, and anti-fascist groups do commit terrorist attacks. However, experts suggest that these terms are dangerously overbroad and could be overused.
“Anarchists” are, from a literal definition, people who believe in the abolition of the state and any social hierarchies. Very few people align with this idea, in part, because it is impractical. Nevertheless, since “anarchy” is associated with violence and chaos, politicians often use it to attack rebellious groups so their actions appear unjustified. And while “antifa” groups have committed acts of violence in the past, they lack the numbers, centralized leadership, and premeditated intent to harm government officials (their violence is mostly beating up alt-right figures in protests) that we would expect from terrorist groups. Given that many Americans who oppose Trump do so because they are antifascists, including them in a list of terrorist organizations has frightening implications. Moreover, there was no mention of right-wing terrorists, despite the fact that most terrorism comes from the right.
If Radiant Mobile Network has similar Christian, right-leaning biases in how it defines “terrorism,” it seems possible that some political ideas – or nonviolent political defiance – could be blocked.
This extends into racism, too. When one learns about racism—another category that is banned in the app for all users—they must also learn about some of the most violent parts of American history and the present, including the Native American genocide, slavery, lynching, and police brutality. In recent years, as conservatives have tried to ban LGBTQ+ books by calling them “pornography,” they have likewise claimed that, when white children learn about slavery, they feel shame for something they didn’t personally do, which is something they should be kept safe from.
However, because racism, like homophobia, is so ingrained in society that it cannot be avoided, even very young children can experience and perpetuate it. Studies show that when elementary school students are given Black and white dolls, they are more likely to suggest the Black doll is “ugly” or “bad.” Learning about racism can show children of color how to stand up for their rights. It also, arguably, could be the best place for white children to unlearn in a neutral, no-stakes setting.
Similarly, seeing something uncomfortable can be good because it can show people that they are not alone. Radiant Mobile does not allow its users to see eating disorders or self-harm, presumably so that they do not develop these problems. However, risk factors for anorexia include genetics, mental health, and Western beauty standards, while risk factors for self-harm include mental health, traumatic events, and friends who self-injure. Filtered software does not solve these problems. The ability to name one’s problems can help people find self-assurance. When that information isn’t available, it becomes harder to tackle internal struggles. The same is true for sexual violence. Comprehensive sexual education decreases sexual assault – but Radiant Network also bans that.
Ultimately, these systems reveal less about technology than they do what the creators believe is truly “Christian” and American. They do not simply filter content—they shape what kinds of people and experiences count as acceptable. The question, then, is not only what people restrict, but who decides what a pure reality should look like.
