What is Blue Whale Challenge? Beware!!

[Viceroy]

The Blue Whale Game (Russian: Синий кит, translit. Siniy kit), also known as "Blue Whale Challenge", is a 21st-century social network phenomenon that is claimed to exist in several countries, beginning in 2016. The game reportedly consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. "Blue Whale" came to prominence in May 2016 through an article in a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, that linked many unrelated child suicides to membership of group "F57" on the Russian-based VKontakte social network. A wave of moral panic swept Russia. However the piece was later criticised for attempting to make a causal link where none existed, and none of the suicides was found to be as a result of the group activities.

Russian journalist Galina Mursaliyeva first drew attention to "death groups" similar to the blue whale game when she wrote an article published in the Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta in April 2016. The article described the death groups "F57" on the Russian social media site VKontakte, that incited 130 teenagers to commit suicide. The name origin of the name "Blue Whale" is uncertain. Some reports say that it apparently comes from a song by the Russian rock band Lumen. Its opening lines are "Why scream / When no one hears / What we're talking about?" and it features a "huge blue whale" that "can't break through the net." Others say it is "believed to be a reference to an act carried out by some blue whales, who appear to beach themselves on purpose, causing them to die." The game is said to run on different social media platforms and is described as a relationship between an administrator and participant. Over a period of fifty days the administrator sets one task per day; the tasks seem innocuous to begin with (get up at 4:30 am, watch a horror movie), and move on to self harm leading to the participant suiciding on the final day. Reports of the suicides connected to the game have been reported worldwide. Mursaliyeva's article was criticised at the time of its release for lacking in credible data and balance. "The 130 cases of suicide cited in the article appeared to be calculated by the author." No link between the game and any suicide has been proven.

In 2016, Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old former psychology student who was expelled from his university, claimed that he invented the game in 2013. He said his intention was to cleanse society by pushing persons to suicide whom he deemed as having no value. Although originally claiming innocence and stating he was "just having fun", Budeikin was arrested and held in Kresty Prison, St Petersburg and in May 2016 pled guilty to "inciting at least 16 teenage girls to commit suicide." He was later convicted on two counts of inciting suicide of a minor. In June 2017, postman Ilya Sidorov was arrested in Moscow, also accused of setting up a "Blue Whale" group to encourage children to self-harm and ultimately commit suicide. He claimed to have persuaded 32 children to join his group and follow commands.[