Blue Whale Challenge
Blue Whale is a social network phenomenon dating from 2016 that is claimed to exist in several countries. It is a game reportedly consisting of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period. Claims of suicides connected to the game have been reported worldwide, but none have been confirmed. In 2016, Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old former psychology student from his university, claimed that he invented the game in 2013.
About Blue Whale Challenge in brief
Blue Whale is a social network phenomenon dating from 2016 that is claimed to exist in several countries. It is a game reportedly consisting of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, initially innocuous before introducing elements of self-harm and the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. Claims of suicides connected to the game have been reported worldwide, but none have been confirmed. In 2016, Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old former psychology student from his university, claimed that he invented the game in 2013. He was arrested and held in Kresty Prison, Saint Petersburg, in May 2016. Budein was later convicted on two counts of inciting suicide of a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. The origin of the name Blue Whale is uncertain. Some reports say that it comes from a song by the Russian rock band Lumen. Others believe it to be a reference to beaching, where whales become stranded on beaches and die. While many experts suggest “Blue Whale” was originally a sensationalised hoax, they believe that it is likely that the phenomenon has led to instances of imitative self-harming and copycat groups. The phenomenon has left vulnerable children at risk of cyberbullying and online shaming. By late 2017, reported participation in Blue Whale was receding; however, internet safety organisations across the world have reacted by giving general advice to parents and educators on suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and online safety in advance of the next incarnation of cyber Bullying.
The number was originally suggested by the father of one of the suicides, Sergey Pestov, who came to the figure 130 by using Russian media sources to look for child suicides he believed to be linked to online groups. In November 2015, a Russian teenager posted a selfie with the caption “nya bye” before committing suicide; her death was then discussed in internet forums and groups, becoming mixed with scare stories and folklore. As a professor at Russian State University for the Humanities, Alexandra Arkhipova found that the administrators were found to be children aged between 12 and 14, drawn to the story as it became widely reported and not, as the hysteria had intimated, predatory adults. The article was criticised at the time of its release for lacking credible data and balance, with the 130 cases of suicide cited being particularly problematic. After an investigation by Evgeny Berg for Meduza, Mursaliyeva responded by saying in fact there had been at least 200. The article described the ‘F57’ groups on Russian social media site VK, that she claimed had incited 130 teenagers to kill themselves. The story was later criticised for attempting to make a causal link where none existed, and none of the deaths were found as a result of the group activities.
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This page is based on the article Blue Whale Challenge published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
