Some eagle-eyed Reddit users got quite the laugh over the weekend when they noticed that cable news channel CNN used a screenshot from the popular video game Fallout 4 as background to explain how Russians hack various computer systems. Fallout 4 is a video game set in post-apocalyptic Boston after a nuclear war. Some of the mini-games within the game involve "hacking" a computer by solving a word puzzle...which isn't anything like actual hacking.
Photo 1 - Screenshot from CNN Russian hacking report
— Asa J ???? (@asamjulian) January 3, 2017
Photo 2 - Screenshot from video game Fallout 4
So hilarious ?????? pic.twitter.com/68DINxk3z4
CNN uses screenshot from ‘Fallout 4’ to show how Russians hack things https://t.co/Fraj20IZuf pic.twitter.com/zSWMFfZkio
— BGR.com (@BGR) January 2, 2017
The game's developers, Bethesda Game Studios, poked fun at CNN's use of their game on Twitter, saying that the same screen was also a sneak peek at the upcoming season of Mr. Robot, a television show about a vigilante hacker.
Sneak Peek at Season 3 of @whoismrrobot pic.twitter.com/S7VMj9Xx5E
— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) January 2, 2017
As the Russian hacking scandal unfolds, perhaps television networks should figure out a b-roll that isn't from a video game.