Iranians Council cites security reasons for banning Pokemon Go in the country.
Iranians thought they can now enjoy playing Pokemon Go after it was officially introduced in Asia. But no! Their privilege to play this smartphone game was prevented.
The Middle-Eastern nation of Iran has officially become the first country to ban Pokemon Go.
In the wildly famous smartphone game, players sometimes are pushed to trespass some property because it instructs players to explore their surroundings to collect Pokemon, then it projects digital images of the cute creatures into the real world. This game has dominated the consciousness of smartphone users worldwide.
But for Iran, their High Council of Virtual Spaces, a governmental online filtering and monitoring agency, has restricted the use of the app.
The Council cited unspecified “security concerns” related to the game. Several Iranians have already actively posted on the Internet about playing Pokemon Go in recent weeks; it remains to be seen how the ban will take effect on the use of the mobile gaming app.
As we all know, Pokemon Go has created a number of disturbances since its release, many of which have been in regards to the game”s focus on visiting real-world locations and landmarks to both catch Pokemon and retrieve in-game items. These range from players wandering onto military bases, Holocaust Museums raising concerns of disrespect, to local communities being overrun with players.
Reports show that Iranian authorities were reported to have been in contact with the game’s developers, Niantic Inc, in the past month in order to “see what extent the game’s creators would co-operate with them”, before officially making a decision to ban the game nation-wide. However, the report also states that despite restrictions, Iran citizens on social media are allegedly still discussing and playing the game.
Aside from Iran, Indonesia has banned police officers from playing the game while on duty, and a French player was arrested last month after straying on to a military base while trying to catch Pokemon.