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The joke is on you, Kremlin TV! That Oakland crowd was protesting police brutality, not playing Pokémon Go.

Source: TJournal

The Russian state TV network Channel One has mistaken footage of an anti-police demonstration in Oakland, California, for a video of people playing Pokémon Go.

In a recent broadcast, the television anchor Dmitry Borisov told viewers, “security agencies throughout the world are investigating who can gain access to the [game's] valuable video records,” calling Pokémon Go an “infectious game.” The news show summarized various conspiracy theories that the game is actually a covert effort by foreign developers to spy on Russia's military bases by enlisting oblivious players.

Channel One also reported that the Israeli armed forces have banned soldiers from playing Pokémon Go on military grounds, citing security concerns.

In its news broadcast, the show features aerial footage of a crowd on a busy highway. As noted by Alex Kovalev—a journalist and the creator of the website Noodle Remover—the footage was actually from a July 7 rally in Oakland, California, where demonstrators blocked a highway to protest police brutality. Channel One's commentary, however, claimed that Pokémon Go players wandered onto the freeway in pursuit of Pokémons.

“Monsters in your phone might take you to bad places”
Channel One news
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