Dozens of media outlets in the past few days have reported that Islamic State (Isis) terrorists planned the Paris attacks via Sony's PlayStation 4.
However, it now turns out that the viral report was false and the Isis members involved in the Paris attacks, which left more than 130 people dead and over 400 injured, did not use a PS4 to carry out the attacks.
It all started with a Forbes report — "How Paris ISIS Terrorists Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks", which, citing Belgian Federal Interior Minister Jan Jambon, claimed a PS4 was found at the apartment of one of the attackers.
Since then, the report itself has been shared by thousands of social media users on Facebook and Twitter.
Forbes' report initially had reported:
The hunt for those responsible (eight terrorists were killed Saturday night, but accomplices may still be at large) led to a number of raids in nearby Brussels. Evidence reportedly turned up included at least one PlayStation 4 console.
Belgian federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon said outright that the PS4 is used by ISIS agents to communicate, and was selected due to the fact that it's notoriously hard to monitor. "PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp," he said.
However, it has now emerged that the interview in which the Jambon mentions how tracking communication on PS4 was impossible took place three days before the Paris attacks, according to The Verge.
Jambon, it is believed, was referring to the Party Chat option on PS4, where players can chat via text or voice calls.
And now even Forbes has made changes to its original story, where the headline now says - How Paris ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks [Updated].
The story now also includes a correction: "It has not been confirmed, as originally written, that a console was found as a result of specific Belgian terror raids. Minister Jambon was speaking about tactics he knows [Isis] to be using generally."
But here is what the Belgian federal interior minister said three days before the Paris attacks: "The most difficult communication between these terrorists is via PlayStation 4. It's very, very difficult for our services — not only Belgian services but international services — to decrypt the communication that is done via PlayStation 4." [via Politico]
