According to a report by CNN, a Russian-linked campaign called ‘Don’t Shoot Us’ used Pokemon GO and social media platforms to divide the American people ahead of last year’s election. The organizers of Don’t Shoot Us aimed to “exploit racial tensions” in the ongoing conversation about police brutality and the mistreatment of minority ethnic people. It posted and shared news reports and footage of alleged incidents of police brutality, seemingly doing so in order to incite protests and to create a divide between protesters and those who would see black activism as a threat.
Niantic also released a statement saying that “our game assets were appropriated and misused in promotions by third parties without our permission”. The developer also stresses that Pokemon GO “cannot be used to share information between users in the app so our platform was in no way being used,” rather, the screenshots were being shared over social media. Though, Niantic “will consider our response as we learn more.”
In the past, entire countries have banned Pokemon GO over possible misuse of the app. Iran banned Pokemon GO due to safety concerns, and China also banned the game for similar reasons. While few players could have predicted that the game would have been used for Russian meddling in politics, these countries may have considered this sort of tampering as an extreme possibility.
As Niantic highlights that this contest was not held within its app and that it had no involvement, it may be absolved of responsibility or wrongdoing here. This may mean that Niantic will not have to testify in the United States government’s ongoing investigation into Russian involvement in the election (representatives for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube will reportedly be testifying soon). But after Pokemon GO was recently used to detect a Russian cyberweapon too, the game is certainly on politician’s radars.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS.
Source: CNN
