‘And how has it been discovered?’: Fans react to report that the CIA secretly ran a Star Wars fan site to send coded messages to spies

Conspiracy theories about the CIA are not new phenomena. This time, a security researcher by the name of 404 Media, real name Ciro Santilli, claims that the government organization built sites mimicking fan sites of the hit film franchise Star Wars and used them to communicate with informants worldwide.

404 Media claimed that these fake sites sported images of Yoda, an Xbox, Wilera video games, and Lego items. 404 Media further alleged that he found other sites similar to the Star Wars site itself where the Central Intelligence Agency reportedly tracked information from spies.

Some of these pages were about Brazilian music, a comedian’s fan site, and extreme sports. The security researcher alleged that the sites kept tabs on Germany, Brazil, Greece, and Spain based on language and content.

Ciro Santilli stated that doing this “research” gave them a broader understanding of the CIA’s motives at the time:

“It reveals a much larger number of websites, it gives a broader understanding of the CIA’s interests at the time, including more specific democracies which may have been targeted which were not previously mentioned, and also a statistical understanding of how much importance they were giving to different zones at the time, and unsurprisingly, the Middle East comes on top."

Fans react to claims that the CIA secretly used a Star Wars fansite to communicate with spies

@Dexerto shared 404 Media’s claims on X and and users reacted with mixed opinions.

@BCAmati tweeted in response:

“And how has it been discovered?? Whistleblown?”

Other X users seemed to receive the news with a grain of salt:

“I’m sorry for people who believe sh** this page posts,” @thegreatbait replied.

“That looks fake af,” @HJKriz stated.

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve read today,” @bnbcaptain expressed.

Others seemed to believe the 404 Media claims and shared theories of their own,

“What are the odds that some of those moderators in Twitch streamer Discords or WoW raiding guilds are also CIA operatives using the same tactics?” @3DeePee asked.

“I heard of guys that organized huge drug deals through a model train aficionado forum by speaking in code. I'm shocked there aren't more examples,” @CringeCrow added.

“some have been saying this they were also using star wars in game chat to talk the more you know,” @theronin42 claimed.

Also read:

1) "Thank you for the outpouring of love and support": Billy Joel's wife Alexis appreciates fans and shares husband's health updates on Instagram

2) Kai Cenat and Duke Dennis stunned after meeting woman with Duke’s face tattooed on her leg

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback