Incident 73: Is Pokémon Go racist? How the app may be redlining communities of color
Entities
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CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsFull Description
In 2016, several sources demonstrated that augmented reality locations in Pokemon Go, a popular smartphone game, were more likely to be located in white neighborhoods. Aura Bogado, an environmental reporter, first noticed the bias in her Los Angeles neighborhood and, through a social media campaign that she launched, researchers and journalists replicated her results across the United States. The game creator Niantic Labs revealed that the Pokemon Go map was derived from a previous augmented reality game, Ingress. Ingress crowdsourced its map from users, who tended to be young, male, white, and English-speaking.
Short Description
Through a crowdsourcing social media campaign in 2016, several journalists and researchers demonstrated that augmented reality locations in the popular smartphone game Pokemon Go were more likely to be in white neighborhoods.
Severity
Negligible
Harm Distribution Basis
Race, National origin or immigrant status, Geography
Harm Type
Harm to social or political systems
AI System Description
Pokemon Go, an augmented reality smartphone game.
System Developer
Niantic Labs
Sector of Deployment
Arts, entertainment and recreation
Relevant AI functions
Unclear
AI Techniques
Game AI
AI Applications
procedural content generation
Location
United States
Named Entities
Pokemon Go, Niantic Labs, John Hanke, Aura Bogado, Ingress
Technology Purveyor
Niantic Labs
Beginning Date
2016-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
Ending Date
2016-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
Near Miss
Harm caused
Intent
Accident
Lives Lost
No
Data Inputs
user data from the game Ingress
CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsHarm Distribution Basis
race, geography
Sector of Deployment
information and communication, Arts, entertainment and recreation
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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In celebration of Pokémon's 20th birthday this past weekend, Nintendo re-released the original Red, Blue, and Yellow games as digital downloads through its online shop. In addition to finally giving players the chance transfer all 151 origi…
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"Warning: Pokémon Go is a death sentence if you’re a black man," Omari Akil argued in an essay at Medium over the weekend.
It’s a startling, even extreme-sounding claim. How could a virally popular smartphone game featuring adorable Japanes…
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CLOSE There are more Pokéstops in majority white areas than in majority black areas, which could suggest digital redlining within the game.
Timi Ajiboye and Tobi Akinnubi use the Pokemon Go application at the University of Lagos. (Photo: St…
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There are typically fewer PokeStops in non-white areas, if there are any at all.
While playing the popular augmented-reality game Pokemon Go in Long Beach, a city that is nearly 50 per cent white, Aura Bogado made an unsettling discovery - …
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Aura Bogado (pictured), an environmental reporter for news outlet Grist, realized Pokemon Go's Poke Stops appeared more frequently in white areas than predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods and began collecting data
A Pokemon Go playe…
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Featured image credit: PA
When you think of Pokémon Go you probably think of crashing servers, grown men acting like teenagers and how fucking hard it is to catch a Charizard. You might not think of racism, but now one US player has found w…
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- View the report at the Internet Archive
The game's popularity proliferated after a July 6 launch in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States: 7.5 million downloads during its first week; 50 million downloads from Google Play during its first month; and it was WikiPedia's mos…
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- View the report at the Internet Archive
Power of Numbers: Pokemon Go!
Sandra Az Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 24, 2018
Numbers
Metrics play a powerful and intensifying role in ordering and shaping our everyday lives. David Beer (2016), in his book, discusses some ways in w…
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