CNN: Russia Used Pokemon Go to Meddle US Politics

While it is not uncommon to hear about Russia meddling in United States Politics in the media, hearing about it on our site might twitch an eye or two. According to CNN’s sources, it suggests that Russia is sparing no avenue to meddle with US politics, even to the point of using Pokemon Go as an avenue for it.

According to CNN, a Russian backed campaign, acting as part of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, used the attractiveness of Pokemon Go to lure people into areas where incidents of alleged police brutality occurred. In its attempt to sow discord amongst the people, the campaign encouraged people to name their Pokemon caught in the location after police brutality victims.

Specifically, the Don’t Shoot Us contest directed readers to go to find and train Pokémon near locations where alleged incidents of police brutality had taken place. Users were instructed to give their Pokémon names corresponding with those of the victims. A post promoting the contest showed a Pokémon named “Eric Garner,” for the African-American man who died after being put in a chokehold by a New York Police Department officer.

Winners of the contest would receive Amazon gift cards, the announcement said.

It’s unclear what the people behind the contest hoped to accomplish, though it may have been to remind people living near places where these incidents had taken place of what had happened and to upset or anger them.

Overall, the incident seemed a long shot to point the finger at anyone in particular, but since this is not a political site, we’re not going to dive too deep into it. Should you find the urge to dive deeper, you can see what CNN has to say here.