How Pokémon Go became entangled in international espionage
'Zero evidence' augmented reality app was ever used for spying by Western intelligence, despite state bans and claims that persist to this day
An official from Belarus' defence ministry claimed that Pokémon Go was an instrument of Western intelligence and had been used to collect information about Belarusian military installations near Minsk, said Politico.
Speaking on a talk show, Alexander Ivanov said: "On the territory of the 50th air base, where the runway is, where there is a lot of military aviation equipment. That's where there were the most Pokémon. Is this not intelligence information?"
As current and former devotees will remember, Pokémon Go is an augmented reality app that allows players to use their smartphones to capture digital characters from the popular 1990s franchise in the physical world. What is less well known is that the 2016 global phenomenon sparked national security concerns from intelligence agencies around the world amid accusations it was in fact a secret espionage tool – suspicions that persist to this day.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An 'extraordinary scheme'
Ivanov's accusations echo those made at the time of the game's release by Russian ultranationalist ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, who claimed Niantic, the San-Francisco-based developer of the app, was linked to a CIA venture-capital firm. Influential figures in Russia depicted the app as an "extraordinary scheme by the US secret services to craftily enlist millions of people across the world to photograph and film hidden, out-of-the-way places"said Radio Free Europe.
The fact that "Pokémon can be found in every corner of the earth", as the app told users when they downloaded the game, was "precisely the problem" said the The New York Times at the time.
In Egypt, Al Jazeera reported that senior officials viewed the game as a "major threat to national security" that allegedly exposed the country's vital security sites to the world.
"Pokémon Go is the latest tool used by spy agencies in the intel war, a cunning despicable app that tries to infiltrate our communities in the most innocent way under the pretext of entertainment," Hamdi Bakheet, a member of Egypt's committee of defence and national security, told parliament in 2016.
Kuwait was among several countries that prohibited the app's use at government sites, while Iran went one step further and became the first county to ban it completely because of unspecified "security concerns", the BBC reported. China justified its own ban by describing it as a "threat to geographical information security".
A 'new era' of spying
The explosion of the Pokémon Go craze in 2016 "dovetailed with a new era of digital spying", said Foreign Policy. Suddenly, vast reams of data were being willingly harvested and shared by users on apps and social media, representing a huge opportunity for security services who "dove headlong into stealing, hacking, or buying data from the private sector that they could not somehow procure elsewhere".
There is "zero evidence that Pokémon Go was ever connected to a foreign intelligence agency, or used for spying by any intelligence agency, foreign or domestic". Much of the confusion during the game's peak in popularity in 2016 "may have just sprung from basic lack of understanding about the mechanics of the game" and its GPS function.
But although such suspicions may have been unfounded at the time, but today fears around the effects of surveillance capitalism – epitomised by platforms such as TikTok – are very much real, making Pokémon Go "a sort of Charizard in the coal mine".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
4 tips to finally start your small business in the new year
The Explainer Make your dream a reality
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku hard: December 4, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: December 4, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Who are Syria's resurgent rebels?
The Explainer Surprise Aleppo offensive, led by controversial faction, has blindsided Bashar al-Assad and his allies
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Can Georgia protests halt pro-Russia drift?
Today's Big Question Government U-turn on EU accession sparks widespread unrest that echoes Ukraine's revolution a decade ago
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
Calin Georgescu: the 'Putin of Romania'
In The Spotlight Far-right outsider sends shockwaves through Europe after surprise first-round win in Sunday's presidential election
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
ATACMS: the long-range American missiles being fired by Ukraine
The Explainer President Joe Biden has authorized their use for the first time in the war
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine fires ATACMS, Russia ups hybrid war
Speed Read Ukraine shot U.S.-provided long-range missiles and Russia threatened retaliation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Can Europe pick up the slack in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Trump's election raises questions about what's next in the war
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Biden allows Ukraine to hit deep in Russia
Speed Read The U.S. gave Ukraine the green light to use ATACMS missiles supplied by Washington, a decision influenced by Russia's escalation of the war with North Korean troops
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden arrives in Peru for final summits
Speed Read President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, visit the Amazon rainforest and attend two major international summits
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published