World Cup 2018 soccer ball that the Russian President Vladimir Putin gave to the US leader Donald Trump, may be equipped with a microchip, Bloomberg reported. 

“I’d check the soccer ball for listening devices and never allow it in the White House,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted.

According to Bloomberg, the congressman may have been right: they saw a special logo on the surface of the ball warning that it is equipped with a communication device.

Adidas issued a statement saying that all balls 2018 World Cup balls are equipped with NFC technology (Near Field Communication). They have built in tiny chips, which allow using a special application installed on a smartphone to read a special code. After that, the user of the application gets access to the videos of football players, fan contests and other similar content.

The chip itself is passive, it does not transmit any information and has a very small range of action - in order to use the program, it is necessary to bring your gadget almost close to the ball. After that, the user of the application gets access to the videos of football players, fan contests and other similar content.

The chip itself is passive, it does not transmit any information and has a very small range of action - in order to use the program, it is necessary to bring your gadget almost close to the ball.