A defense ministry official from Belarus has claimed augmented reality game Pokémon GO was a tool of Western intelligence agencies.
Alexander Ilanov, head of the department of ideological work at Belarus's defense department, this week appeared on a local TV talk show and was reportedly asked about the most likely targets for spies.
Ilanov responded that at the peak of Pokémon GO's popularity, the location where most of the digital monsters could be found was on the grounds of a military runway. At the peak of the game's popularity the virtual creatures could of course be found just about everywhere.
Pokémon GO was targeted by scammers, and had privacy problems, but the idea of the game as an intelligence tool is old – and largely debunked.
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As The New York Times reported in 2016, Russia labelled the game a tool of the CIA. Indonesia, Kuwait, and Egypt all got angry about the game. It remains officially banned in China, though some intrepid players are known to use it there.
Developer Niantic insisted it observes local laws wherever Pokémon hunters choose to peruse the Poké-sphere, and has denied all accusations it shares user info – so no-one can get a peek at you while you play. Nonetheless, military officials in several nations have warned that as the game uses users' location data, members of the military should exercise caution lest they leak strategically significant information.
Pokémon GO is not alone in creating risk regarding user locations: exercise app Strava caused a stir in 2018 when some users used it to track their activities near secure military facilities.
Ivanov's argument is therefore not very effective.
Belarus is very much in Russia's orbit as a "Union State" – an arrangement under which it remains a sovereign nation but shares policies with Russia. No other former Soviet nation has chosen to retain that status. Sharing a Putinesque paranoia about the West – and Pokémon GO – is therefore very much in character for a Belarussian official. ®