Pokemon Go Players Claim They're Being Improperly Banned; Niantic Investigating
Players have complained that they're being falsely flagged for cheating, and being slapped with seven-day warning bans.
Niantic is investigating an issue that appears to be resulting in improper bans in Pokemon Go. Players have been complaining of receiving bans, and the community has been trying to piece together common traits for those being impacted by the problem.
Eurogamer reports that the popular Pokemon Go subreddit TheSilphRoad has been populated with several threads documenting the bans. Users have been reaching out to sites about the problem, including GameSpot. Niantic has now issued a statement regarding the bans, saying it is looking into the issue.
Players believe the problem is impacting those using iOS 12, with some reportedly claiming they've been experiencing bans for months. Most players are hit with a seven-day "soft" ban, which is given as a warning to players using modified software. This doesn't disable play altogether, but it does impact the level of rarity you can catch. If you rack up enough of these offenses, it could result in a longer ban or a deactivation of your account altogether.
We're investigating reports that some players are being incorrectly flagged by our systems and receiving punishments on their accounts. We will share an update as soon as we are able.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) June 15, 2020
The notice from Niantic doesn't shed any more light on whether this is a problem with an automated system, human error, or otherwise.
If you haven't been caught up in the banning issue, you can take part in this month's Pokemon Go events. Those include the debut of the Legendary Zekrom, new field research tasks, and more.
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