Russians with Kremlin ties allegedly put out an anti-Clinton video game in the weeks before the election, according to a new report by CNN.
Videos by Rare
The game, called “Hilltendo,” seems like the typical addicting game that you might find a teenager sneakily enjoying during a class, but beneath the surface, it could be more nefarious. Evidence in the site’s code suggests that it may have tracked users who played it and later sent them targeted ads.
Russian internet trolls created an anti-Hillary Clinton video game called "Hilltendo" and tried to make it go viral in the weeks before the 2016 US presidential election https://t.co/9WWwewmcxp pic.twitter.com/f813YVST8C
— CNN International (@cnni) March 8, 2018
CNN uncovered the connection to Hilltendo.com by tracking the IP address to a hosting company. The IP also reportedly hosted sites connected to the Internet Research Agency, some members of which were indicted by Robert Mueller in mid-February. However, it’s unlikely they’ll ever see the inside of a U.S. courtroom, as the agency is based in St. Petersburg.
If the game was a Russian product, its makers were mostly unsuccessful at promoting it on Twitter or Facebook ,where other schemers reportedly had much success during the election season. Instead, there is evidence that the Kremlin-linked actors used image hosting site Imgur to push screenshots of the game. In a statement to CNN, Imgur said, “We have been actively investigating how our platform may have been used by foreign actors.”
The game has been taken offline, but it was allegedly played 19,000 times before it disappeared.