CNN claims Russia used Pokemon Go to undermine election

a reply to: trollz

Are you kidding me CNN? This sounds like a troll news article.

It is flat out impossible to link people playing Pokemon go to not voting.

They should just make a gd phone voting app already.

Where you literally log in with only 1 email address linked to your voter I'd and press a flipping button. Then it is done.

There is no law against how we vote. There isn't. There are voting laws prohibiting double voting, illegal voting, and ballet boxes. But there is no law saying we can't vote using our gd cell phones.

Just make a gd voting app already.

But I thought Pokemon Go was an elaborate CIA surveillance system?

Does that mean the CIA is full of Russian agents?

Wow they've really let themselves go since the 60s.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

LMAO. I can't agree with you more. Truer words have never been spoken on this forum. I can't read her posts without dropping IQ points. Anyone who thinks CNN is unbiased aND doesn't spout complete BS the majority of the time needs a wake up call. I'm sure many people believe Russians hacked pokemon go so people wouldn't vote

This is, unsurprisingly, a total mischaracterization of the CNN article by the well-known Russian sponsored site "RT."

Here's a link to the CNN article: CNN Money

Russian efforts to meddle in American politics did not end at Facebook and Twitter. A CNN investigation of a Russian-linked account shows its tentacles extended to YouTube, Tumblr and even Pokémon Go.

One Russian-linked campaign posing as part of the Black Lives Matter movement used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and Pokémon Go and even contacted some reporters in an effort to exploit racial tensions and sow discord among Americans, CNN has learned.

The Russian actions were acknowledged by Niantic, the company that makes Pokemon Go:

"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," Niantic, the makers of Pokémon Go, said in a statement provided to CNN.
"It is important to note that Pokémon GO, as a platform, was not and cannot be used to share information between users in the app so our platform was in no way being used. This 'contest' required people to take screen shots from their phone and share over other social networks, not within our game. Niantic will consider our response as we learn more."

The website sponsoring the fake Pokemon Go promotion (on Tumblr) has been connected to the Russian-based "Internet Research Agency" ...

To date, Facebook has said that it identified 470 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, while Twitter has identified 201 accounts. Google has not released its findings, though CNN has confirmed that the company has identified tens of thousands of dollars spent on ad buys by Russian accounts.

Facebook and Twitter have submitted detailed records of their findings to both Congress and the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Good to see who's willing to lie and help propagate Russian-state-sponsored propaganda in the US though. Thanks OP!

originally posted by: andrew778
a reply to: MotherMayEye

LMAO. I can't agree with you more. Truer words have never been spoken on this forum. I can't read her posts without dropping IQ points. Anyone who thinks CNN is unbiased aND doesn't spout complete BS the majority of the time needs a wake up call. I'm sure many people believe Russians hacked pokemon go so people wouldn't vote

Regardless of your attacks on another member of this site, one wonders why so many of you are so desperate to deny known facts in these matters.

It is a known fact that the Russian-based "Internet Research Agency" made massive efforts to affect the political climate during the 2016 Presidential Election. This is not disputed.

Why do you guys want to carry water for Russia again?

Does Nintendo own Pokémon? I thought they did. If I were them I'd sue the # out of CNN.

originally posted by: libertytoall
Does Nintendo own Pokémon? I thought they did. If I were them I'd sue the # out of CNN.

The company that owns Pokemon Go, Niantic, has confirmed what CNN actually claimed in their article. See above.

WOW, those evil Russians used Pokeman to undermine the election? Holy crap, how deep does this rabbit hole really go?! HILLARY CLINTON herself talked about "Pokemon go to the polls", OMG, THIS MUST MEAN THAT HILLARY CLINTON IS REALLY A RUSSIAN AGENT!!! MAYBE SHE IS EVEN PUTIN HIMSELF IN DRAG, OH, THE HUMANITY!!!!

originally posted by: Gryphon66

originally posted by: libertytoall
Does Nintendo own Pokémon? I thought they did. If I were them I'd sue the # out of CNN.

The company that owns Pokemon Go, Niantic, has confirmed what CNN actually claimed in their article. See above.

Source ? Anything but another CNN claim ?

Nianticlabs official site :

News
Press

originally posted by: Gryphon66

originally posted by: libertytoall
Does Nintendo own Pokémon? I thought they did. If I were them I'd sue the # out of CNN.

The company that owns Pokemon Go, Niantic, has confirmed what CNN actually claimed in their article. See above.

Have you even read the article you linked? It is pure speculation.

Oh and the company that owns Pokemongo said this:

"It is important to note that Pokémon GO, as a platform, was not and cannot be used to share information between users in the app so our platform was in no way being used. This 'contest' required people to take screen shots from their phone and share over other social networks, not within our game. Niantic will consider our response as we learn more."

CNN also say this, buried of course in the article:

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.

Speculation.

And this too:

CNN has not found any evidence that any Pokémon Go users attempted to enter the contest, or whether any of the Amazon Gift Cards that were promised were ever awarded -- or, indeed, whether the people who designed the contest ever had any intention of awarding the prizes.

Seriously?

a reply to: Jonjonj

Seriously?

You should be saying that to the OP and most everyone who has commented in this thread. I'm doubting any of them took a second to read the CNN article. Because it's CNN and the article is about Russia and they're completely incapable of even entertaining that Russia uses trolls in influence campaigns. Not because the evaluated anything but because they read the RT mischaracterization and it agreed with their preconceived notions and that's good enough for a circlejerk.

CNN names the website, donotshoot.us. That site is still up. Do you think the owner/operator of that site will be speaking out to refute CNN? Probably not.

The site's social media links do in fact point to a suspended Twitter account, a Facebook page that appears to have been unpublished and a Tumblr page, dontshootus.tumblr.com which has in fact shifted to pro-Palestinian posting, however there's archives of it at Wayback Machine from May 2016 - Nov 2016 showing it's previous content being in line with the aforementioned and the YouTube channel which is still up.

As far as Pokemon Go, it was an image advertising a "contest" as CNN reported. Clearly the contest wasn't about trying to influence the election through Pokemon Go but rather, just a gimmick to help popularize the site/social media. From what I could see from cached pages, the focus on the election directly was minimal. No mention of Trump either positive or negative, a very few bits about Clinton (negative). To me, assuming the FB bit is legit, it looks like part of a more generalized influence operation.

A little of research will turn up similar claims about projects by the "Internet Research Agency" going back to 2013-2014 in multiple countries.

The connection to the troll farm was made by a source who claimed that the Facebook page was one of the 470 linked to it that had been closed by FB. There's also the metadata from the Word doc that had responses to the questions from the email interview with the "International Press Foundation." Though it's in of itself pretty weak and of course the document came from a 3rd party so the provenance isn't exactly rock solid.

Their apparent attempts at organizing real world events via social media seem to mirror similar claims about other of the closed FB groups. It's an interesting idea, using social media personas to incite real world activism. Cheap, low risk and could be done from the other side of the world.

At any rate, it's not "pure speculation" if their source is to be believed. Then again it could all be made up. That's what most right-wingers on ATS would prefer to believe isn't it? That the Russians couldn't possibly be trying to influence Americans — that's preposterous — but any non-right-wing media outlet, particularly CNN, NBC/MSNBC, WaPo or the NYT, would make up complex narratives replete with fictional events and sources because "liberals are butthurt that Trump won."

This isn't speculation as some have suggested, just an outright lie.

Tell the same lie often enough and people will believe it.

Reichminister Goebbels would be proud of CNNs efforts.

We need to change the definition of bull# to include the words "according to sources familiar with"...

But yeah, scary stuff nonetheless...

www.youtube.com...

Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort

A source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN

lol

a reply to: theantediluvian

I agree with this here that you stated:

As far as Pokemon Go, it was an image advertising a "contest" as CNN reported. Clearly the contest wasn't about trying to influence the election through Pokemon Go but rather, just a gimmick to help popularize the site/social media. From what I could see from cached pages, the focus on the election directly was minimal. No mention of Trump either positive or negative, a very few bits about Clinton (negative). To me, assuming the FB bit is legit, it looks like part of a more generalized influence operation. 

So how do we go from that to the title itself of the CNN article?

Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort

What meddling exactly is being inferred here? Is it NOT the election meddling issue?

a reply to: trollz

Why did you link to RT instead of CNN? Oh, and the Russian media claimed Pokemon Go was a western espionage plot:

www.washingtontimes.com...

a reply to: Jonjonj

The article at CNN does not state what the OP’s Russian-sponsored media article claimed, to wit, that Pokémon Go was “used to influence the election.”. The article is very clear in tracing the Tumblr page referencing Pokémon Go.

You have quoted the same thing I did, yet you still don’t understand.

The source of the material was the Russian “Internet Research Agency” which you seem to ignore yet which has been established by multiple sources.

You’re desperate to help,propagate this nonsense and it shows.