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IPFS News Link • Entertainment: Games

Pokemon Go Is Spooking Middle East Governments

• http://www.zerohedge.com, by Jeremy Luedi

Pokemon Go has quickly become a global phenomenon, the latest viral sensation boosted by social media and our ubiquitous smartphones. The app is all over the news, as are stories of foolish players getting in trouble, lost, or accidents. While elsewhere these events have been shrugged off as frivolous or ultimately harmless, Pokemon Go is no laughing matter in the Middle East.

A host of governments in the Middle East are treating Pokemon Go as a potentially serious destabilizing force. Said regimes have cited religious, cultural, and national security reasons to support their calls for action against Pokemon Go.

From fatwa to farce, Pokemon Go has been on the receiving end of a range of government responses in the Middle East. For instance, Egypt has renewed a 15 year old fatwa against the Pokemon franchise which was issued by the then Grand Mufti in 2001. Similarly, Saudi Arabia has renewed a similar fatwa, characterizing Pokemon as un-Islamic.


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