Lantern financial pilot
A key part of that effort is Lantern, our signal-sharing program that enables companies to share critical information to help disrupt cross-platform harm. In August 2024, we launched the Lantern Financial Sector Pilot to evaluate whether and how financial institutions could be meaningfully integrated into this network. Today, we are sharing an important milestone: the successful completion of that pilot.
About the pilot
Launched in August 2024, the pilot was designed to evaluate the integration of financial institutions into Lantern, our OCSEA signal-sharing program.
The goal was to determine whether sharing signals – such as indicators of online enticement or solicitation of child sexual abuse material sourced from other companies – between tech companies and financial institutions could help disrupt OCSEA at the financial layer, where perpetrators often facilitate or profit from harm.
The pilot involved six companies – Cash App, Mega, Meta, PayPal, Snap, and Western Union – and ran through the first half of 2025.
Key results and lessons learned
Across the pilot, participating tech companies shared 1,935 signals indicating potential financially linked OCSEA activity. These signals helped trigger 108 investigations by financial institutions. While some of these investigations remain ongoing, Lantern signals have already resulted in reports of OCSEA activity being filed with the U.S. government.
Beyond the numbers, the pilot helped validate key assumptions about the value of cross-sector collaboration. Tech companies were able to share previously siloed information about financial abuse. Financial institutions, in turn, were able to act on that information within the bounds of their internal policies, legal, and regulatory obligations. Together, the pilot partners contributed to a safer digital and financial ecosystem.
The pilot also surfaced important learnings around operational capacity, contextual information within signals, and the types of additional safeguards needed to further protect user rights and ensure responsible data sharing. We intentionally designed the pilot with limited scope and robust controls, including ‘consume-only’ access for financial partners, human rights guidance from BSR, and regular workshops for participants to surface and respond to issues.
Next steps
Based on the pilot’s strong results and broad participant support, we are moving forward with formally integrating financial institutions into Lantern. We will begin with eligible U.S.-based entities and expand to additional jurisdictions as legal and regulatory considerations allow. While maintaining the safeguards established for risk mitigation during the pilot, we are also working with BSR on a focused human rights assessment to guide future expansion.
We are deeply grateful to the companies that helped shape and test this pilot – Cash App, Mega, Meta, PayPal, Snap, and Western Union – and to every company participating in Lantern. Their collaboration continues to demonstrate what’s possible when industry comes together to tackle complex, cross-platform harm.
If you are a Tech Coalition member or Lantern participant and would like access to the full pilot report, please reach out to the Lantern team or visit the Member Resource Center.