A new US mobile network aimed at Christians is set to launch next week, and it comes with a controversial approach to content filtering. The service blocks pornography at the network level in a way that adult account holders cannot turn off, which security experts say is a first for a US cell plan. It also includes an optional sexual-content filter that is enabled by default on all plans and is intended to restrict material related to gender and trans issues.
The network is currently being tested ahead of its May 5 launch and will be operated by Radiant Mobile, a newly formed mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. MVNOs do not own cell towers. Instead, they buy network access from larger carriers and sell plans to specific groups. In this case, the underlying network is T-Mobile.
Radiant Mobile’s founder says the goal is to create a “Jesus-centric” environment that excludes pornography, LGBT content, and trans content. A T-Mobile representative did not address whether these restrictions conflict with company policies and said T-Mobile does not work directly with Radiant Mobile, but through the MVNO manager CompaxDigital.
The company says it has recruited Christian influencers to promote the service and has contacted thousands of churches across the US. One part of the pitch is a donation model tied to the monthly $30 subscription fee, allowing churches to receive a portion of subscriber payments. The company also hopes to expand to other countries with large Christian populations, including South Korea and Mexico.
The broader message behind the network is familiar: the internet is full of harmful content, and the platforms and algorithms behind it contribute to isolation, anger, and unhealthy behavior. Other efforts to address that problem include age verification laws and lawsuits accusing social media companies of knowingly addicting young users.
Radiant Mobile is taking a much more aggressive approach. It is working with the Israeli cybersecurity company Allot to block categories such as violence and self-harm, along with pornography. Some categories are blocked by default and cannot be changed, even by adults.
One of the main motivations behind the project is opposition to porn. The company’s chief operating officer, a minister in Orlando, says he joined because he wanted Christians to have a practical way to respond to what he sees as a pornography crisis in the faith community. He pointed to a survey showing that 67% of pastors have a personal history with porn use and said he worries about his six children encountering porn on their devices.
The blocking system uses domain-level category filtering. Allot groups websites into more than 100 categories, including pornography, violence, malware, gaming, and, in Radiant Mobile’s setup, “sects,” which covers sites related to Satanism. If a user tries to open a site in a blocked category, it simply will not load. That makes it much harder to bypass than app-based filters that can be deleted or worked around.
Network-level blocking itself is not new. It is commonly used to stop malware domains and, in some cases, to support optional parental controls. What is new is a US phone plan using non-removable network-level blocks for adults.
The biggest challenge is that many websites do not fit neatly into a single category, which gives the operator a lot of subjective control over what stays accessible. That is especially clear in the plan’s handling of gender identity content.
The company says it does not have a category specifically for gender, but that LGBT-related material often falls under its sexuality category. On Radiant Mobile’s website, that category is described as sites that provide information about sex, sex and teenagers, and sexual education without pornographic content. This category is blocked by default for all phones, though adult account holders can change that setting.
That leaves room for broad interpretation. If a news site publishes enough gender-related material, it could be labeled as sexuality rather than press, which would block the entire domain on phones using that filter.
The company has already pointed to Yale University as an example. Its main site is categorized as education, but a subsection focused on trans equality is treated differently because it sits on a separate domain. That makes it possible to place it in the sexuality category and block it.
For now, Yale’s main website remains accessible. But the company says that could change if LGBTQ-related content appears more prominently on the university’s front pages.
Behind the project is an unusual career shift. Radiant Mobile’s founder spent decades in fashion, representing supermodels and members of high-profile families, and later hosted a reality show focused on turning people from rehab facilities and homeless shelters into models. He says he now regrets that work and does not consider it something to be proud of.
Last year, a friend suggested he study Mint Mobile, the cell brand built by Ryan Reynolds and acquired by T-Mobile in 2023 for $1.3 billion. He liked the business model, but did not initially have a target audience. Then, he says, he had a late-night realization that he should build something for the faith market.
The company says it has received $17.5 million in investment from Compax Ventures, which also acts as a technical middleman between Radiant and T-Mobile. The lead investor and silent partner is a vice president at Nvidia.
To fill the gap left by blocked sites, Radiant Mobile plans to offer a library of religious content, including AI-generated Bible videos. It also plans to use characters such as Cinderella and Tinker Bell in AI-generated material, based on rights secured from an entertainment company that has been collecting rights to hundreds of children’s characters. The company says those characters were originally created from a conservative perspective and will appear alongside testimonials and devotional content.
Not everyone is convinced the filtering system will work as intended. Technical experts say it is difficult to maintain a complete list of websites that might be considered problematic. More broadly, they argue that while parts of the internet are undeniably harmful, an overly broad blocking strategy is not the right answer.
