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Comment by dbalan | Hacker News Reader

For people who is wondering what it is.. "Club Penguin is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) involving a virtual world containing a range of online games and activities,"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Penguin

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More specifically, it's an MMO aimed at children. With restricted chat and simplistic gameplay, it was very popular with the under 14 crowd.

It was also a known gateway for terrorists, and terrorist recruiting cells. The relative obscurity of the game and the assumed anonymity made it a breeding ground for black market crimes.

That sounds like the kind of BS 4chan would try to get people to believe.

Club Penguin was a frequent target for 4chan and reddit trolls, similar to Habbo Hotel (see: the Pool's Closed meme and /r/bannedfromclubpenguin on reddit)

Wasn't that a joke in the film Four Lions?

(a) Yes and (b) solid movie.

Solid? That shit's fucking fantastic, proper rubber dinghy rapids bro.

Was trying to remember where I saw that. Thanks!

It also reminds me of "Pantou the dog" [0] from Brass Eye [1] (created by the same person as Four Lions), which successfully duped several British celebrities and politicians. That particular episode caused media hysteria when it came out.

[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=RcU7FaEEzNU&t...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/30/brass-e...

How did anyone ever think that it was serious? It's so obviously satire.

I remember that article. While they explicitly did call out Club Penguin (in your typical click bait fashion), they admitted in the article that the potential for semi-anonymous communication applied to every online video game and forum on the internet. Club Penguin was also not the only platform targeted with these insinuations - the PS4 was also directly accused of being such a communication method.

Of course, terrorists were also confirmed to be using mail, telephones, text messages, email, and face to face conversations...

Let's be honest, it was a click bait article with no real substance to it.

The whole "FBI monitors WoW for terrorist communications"

...what

...and clickbait targeted to get concerned parents right in the feels.

Same thing with Clash of Clans. Games that are popular in the Middle East are usually what recruiters target. None of the games are at fault.

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