Zero tolerance. Lantern prohibits child sexual abuse and exploitation in every form, including CSAM, grooming, sextortion, trafficking of a child for sex, and any other sexual exploitation or endangerment of a child.
These standards apply to the Android app Lantern on Google Play (app.lantern), including mesh chat, files, profiles, maps, LoRa, and Wi-SUN. They are not the policy of lantern.io or “Lantern: Fast & Private VPN.”
1. Point of contact
| Role | Details |
|---|---|
| Role | Child safety / CSAM point of contact for Lantern |
| lantern.mesh@gmail.com | |
| Use for | User reports, Google Play CSAE notices, law-enforcement inquiries |
Do not attach suspected CSAM. Describe what you saw in words. If a child is in immediate danger, call local emergency services first.
2. What Lantern is
Lantern is a device-local library and nearby mesh. People capture public web pages and keep files on their own phone. Optionally they start mesh: Bluetooth / local Wi-Fi (Google Nearby Connections) on a shared channel, plus optional USB LoRa or Wi-SUN radios. Linked phones can chat, share an optional in-person profile, show map pins, and pull offered pages or files. There is no Lantern account and no Lantern content server.
Files and full pages stay on Bluetooth. Compact chat and presence can also ride LoRa or Wi-SUN when a USB module is connected. Those radio hops are ordinary broadcast on an unlicensed band.
We cannot scan every nearby transfer in real time. That does not reduce the ban. Using Lantern to exploit a child violates these standards and criminal law.
3. Definitions
A child is anyone under 18, or the age of majority if higher where you are.
CSAE means content or behavior that sexually exploits, abuses, or endangers a child, including grooming, sextortion, trafficking of a child for sex, sexualization of a child (including AI-generated imagery), and any other sexual exploitation of a child.
CSAM is any visual depiction — photo, video, live stream, or computer-generated / AI imagery — of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct. It is illegal.
4. Prohibited
You may not use Lantern to create, store, capture, offer, pull, chat about, or share CSAM; solicit sexual content from or of a child; groom, sextort, traffic, or otherwise sexually exploit a child; advertise or trade CSAM on a mesh channel, LoRa, or Wi-SUN; or use a callsign, channel, page, file, profile, map pin, or message to sexualize a child.
A “private channel,” a password-locked file, encryption, LoRa, or Wi-SUN is not an exception.
5. Age
Lantern is not directed at children under 13. Mesh chat, files, location, and radios are not a children’s product. Google Play’s Child Safety Standards still apply to adult-intended Social apps.
6. How to report
There is no Lantern account. Reports go to email:
- Email lantern.mesh@gmail.com from any mail app. Subject: Lantern child safety report.
Include what happened, date/time, channel if known, and the other callsign if known. Do not attach files or suspected CSAM. If a child is in immediate danger, call local emergency services first.
7. Actual knowledge
When we obtain actual knowledge (user report, Play notice, law enforcement, or other credible notice) we will:
- Review promptly (target: within 24 hours of a human reading the inbox)
- Acknowledge the report where we can do so safely
- Instruct involved users to delete the material and stop mesh and radios
- Refuse further support to anyone we reasonably believe is using Lantern for CSAE
- Preserve lawful report metadata (not the CSAM) for law enforcement
- Report to NCMEC CyberTipline and/or local police where required or responsible
- Cooperate with lawful legal process and with Google Play
We cannot remotely wipe another phone. We do not host the library, chat, or files.
8. On-device tools
Stop mesh, refuse a PIN, change channel, disconnect LoRa / Wi-SUN, delete the item, turn off profile and map share, or Burn this device in Settings. Burn clears library, files, chat, friends, and profile on that phone. It does not erase copies already on someone else’s phone.
9. Other reports
- US: NCMEC CyberTipline
- UK: IWF
- EU: INHOPE
10. Google Play self-certification
- These standards are public, name Lantern (
app.lantern), and prohibit CSAE - Users can report by email to lantern.mesh@gmail.com
- Appropriate action after actual knowledge of CSAM
- Point of contact: lantern.mesh@gmail.com