Report: Russia-Linked Troll Farm Tried To Inflame U.S. Racial Tensions Through Pokémon Go
- 7 years ago
A Russia-linked troll farm called the Internet Research Agency, or IRA, reportedly tried to inflame tensions among Americans through the popular game Pokémon Go.
A Russia-linked troll farm called the Internet Research Agency, or IRA, reportedly tried to inflame tensions among Americans through the popular game Pokémon Go.
According to CNN which broke the story Thursday, the plan involved a multi-platform social media campaign known as “Don’t Shoot Us” intended to “highlight incidents of alleged police brutality, with what may have been the dual goal of galvanizing African Americans to protest and encouraging other Americans to view black activism as a rising threat.”
Pokémon Go was reportedly one of the tools the group used as part of a Tumblr contest where participants would be sent to areas where such alleged incidents of brutality took place and were subsequently asked to name their characters after the victims.
CNN notes that although Amazon gift cards were offered as a prize, it is unknown if anyone played the game or collected a reward.
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, has since issued a statement saying, in part, “It's clear from the images shared with us by CNN that our game assets were appropriated and misused in promotions by third parties without our permission.”
This isn’t the first time IRA trolls have been accused of trying to spread disruptive or false information online; PBS reported two years ago that the group was thought to have been behind hoax stories about a Louisiana chemical factory explosion in 2014 and an Ebola outbreak in Georgia.
As reporter Adrian Chen explained at the time, this kind of work was initially carried out of a desire by the Kremlin to “pollute the Internet, to make it an unreliable source for people, and so that normal Russians who might want to learn about opposition leaders or another side of things from the Kremlin narrative will just not be able to trust it.”
And these efforts are believed to have expanded into the U.S. political system during the 2016 election through the use of Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media platforms, notes The Hill.
While some activists in Russia have tried to expose and even fight against these troll farms, they typically face an uphill battle due to the shadows in which the groups operate as well as suspected protection from the government.
A Russia-linked troll farm called the Internet Research Agency, or IRA, reportedly tried to inflame tensions among Americans through the popular game Pokémon Go.
According to CNN which broke the story Thursday, the plan involved a multi-platform social media campaign known as “Don’t Shoot Us” intended to “highlight incidents of alleged police brutality, with what may have been the dual goal of galvanizing African Americans to protest and encouraging other Americans to view black activism as a rising threat.”
Pokémon Go was reportedly one of the tools the group used as part of a Tumblr contest where participants would be sent to areas where such alleged incidents of brutality took place and were subsequently asked to name their characters after the victims.
CNN notes that although Amazon gift cards were offered as a prize, it is unknown if anyone played the game or collected a reward.
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, has since issued a statement saying, in part, “It's clear from the images shared with us by CNN that our game assets were appropriated and misused in promotions by third parties without our permission.”
This isn’t the first time IRA trolls have been accused of trying to spread disruptive or false information online; PBS reported two years ago that the group was thought to have been behind hoax stories about a Louisiana chemical factory explosion in 2014 and an Ebola outbreak in Georgia.
As reporter Adrian Chen explained at the time, this kind of work was initially carried out of a desire by the Kremlin to “pollute the Internet, to make it an unreliable source for people, and so that normal Russians who might want to learn about opposition leaders or another side of things from the Kremlin narrative will just not be able to trust it.”
And these efforts are believed to have expanded into the U.S. political system during the 2016 election through the use of Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media platforms, notes The Hill.
While some activists in Russia have tried to expose and even fight against these troll farms, they typically face an uphill battle due to the shadows in which the groups operate as well as suspected protection from the government.