With Niantic’s recent acquisition by the Saudi government, it is also unclear how the sale will impact the data policies and practices for games like Pokémon Go and whether new ownership could lead to expanded data collection practices or applications of sensitive user information. It is not clear if Saudi Arabia’s purchase also gives it access to Niantic’s preexisting data and AI models, but at minimum, it owns the apparatus for collecting this data going forward. In addition to serious concerns about how data could be used, Saudi Arabia’s purchase of this popular mobile game highlights the increasingly evident futility of building a firewall between US user data and foreign companies.