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Олександр КузьменкоStartup
10 November 2026, 18:06
2026-11-10
They didn't know how users would react. The developer of the Lantern language extension explained why it doesn't work on social networks
The Ukrainian Chrome extension Lantern has not yet been integrated into social networks such as X (Twitter) due to the complexity of their layout and the developers' concern that users would perceive it as an "invasion of personal space." This was stated in a comment to dev.ua by the project's co-founder Dan Massalitin, who shared plans for Netflix support, expanding the list of languages, and future monetization.
The Ukrainian Chrome extension Lantern has not yet been integrated into social networks such as X (Twitter) due to the complexity of their layout and the developers' concern that users would perceive it as an "invasion of personal space." This was stated in a comment to dev.ua by the project's co-founder Dan Massalitin, who shared plans for Netflix support, expanding the list of languages, and future monetization.
Previously, dev.ua reported on the launch of this tool , which developers have been working on for eight months. The service is designed to integrate foreign language learning into daily web surfing by highlighting words on pages and translating subtitles in videos.
According to the developer, the lack of social media support is due to the complexity of dynamic layout and security issues. The team was unsure whether users would perceive Lantern's work on their social networks as an invasion of personal space, so they postponed this task.
"Also, Lantern does not work by default on websites of banks, post offices, etc. For the same and security reasons. But we will soon add the ability to enable the application manually," said Dan Massalitin.
In addition, the developers are preparing integration with the Netflix streaming platform, similar to YouTube, where when you hover over subtitles, the video pauses and the translation appears.
Within a month, translations into major European languages (Spanish, German, French, Italian, etc.) will be added to the service, and later new languages will appear for learning, the first of which will be Spanish.
Lantern will continue to be completely free for users in Ukraine. Monetization is planned for other languages and additional functionality in the future.
“These are difficult times, and we thought that free access for Ukrainians would be the right decision,” said Dan Massalitin.
Lantern is currently in beta. In the future, the team also plans to release mobile apps for iOS and Android, create an LMS for teachers, and implement a personalized AI tutor.
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