"WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT THOSE WHO HARM US PAY A HEAVY PRICE": This was the message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was in an ad discovered by a 6-year-old boy playing a video game.

The puzzle game on his Android phone had been interrupted by a video showing Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families and blurred graphic footage. Over a black screen, a message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the first grader: “WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT THOSE WHO HARM US PAY A HEAVY PRICE.”

Cassis, a 28-year-old barista from Brazil, said that the ad left her son shaken and she quickly deleted the game.

“He was shocked,” she said in a telephone interview last week. “He literally said, ‘What is this bloody ad doing in my game?’”

Reuters has not been able to establish how the ad came to her son’s video game, but her family isn’t alone. The news agency has documented at least five other cases across Europe where the same pro-Israel video, which carried footage of rocket attacks, a fiery explosion, and masked gunmen, was shown to gamers, including several children.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    42·
    1 year ago

    …ads make their way into children’s video games

    That’s the problem. Porn, war propaganda, candy, energy drinks, whatever. Ads should not be allowed in children’s games.