The Great Pokémon Go Spy Panic

In 2016, as Hillary Clinton was imploring her supporters to “Pokémon Go to the polls,” America’s spy agencies had a different message for their employees: Your hunt for Pikachu, they warned, might be endangering national security—and Beijing’s prying eyes could be behind that Bulbasaur.

That summer, the Pokémon Go craze was in full bloom. Every day, tens of millions of Americans took to the streets, phones held aloft, impelled by the urge to “catch ’em all.” Hundreds of millions of users were playing the game worldwide.

In 2016, as Hillary Clinton was imploring her supporters to “Pokémon Go to the polls,” America’s spy agencies had a different message for their employees: Your hunt for Pikachu, they warned, might be endangering national security—and Beijing’s prying eyes could be behind that Bulbasaur.

That summer, the Pokémon Go craze was in full bloom. Every day, tens of millions of Americans took to the streets, phones held aloft, impelled by the urge to “catch ’em all.” Hundreds of millions of users were playing the game worldwide.

Leave a Comment