Blue Whale ‘Suicide Dare’ Game – Many Teenager Deaths: Fact Check

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Blue Whale ‘Suicide Dare’ Game is Inflicting Many Teenager Deaths through Social Media.

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Friends, please keep track of your kids’ behavior, especially if they use smartphones. There is a new online game called “Blue Whale” which is the latest craze among kids around the world, and is becoming popular in India as well nowadays.

Apparently, it is about the gamer performing different tasks to cross different levels, and in the final level, it challenges the gamer to jump from a high rise building. A kid from Mumbai jumped from his building terrace & lost his life today, due to this online game. The worst part is that the boy had been behaving abnormally over the last few days (because the game expects the gamers to do weird things to cross different levels initially, which affects their behavior), which was actually noticed by the parents but they chose to ignore it.

Police is investigating the case, and to avoid any such mishaps in future, they have started sending messages to parents, asking them to remain vigil & keep track of their kids activities (especially on smartphone/laptop), observe their behavior, keep their terraces locked, and other relevant preventive measures.

Fact Check:

Various warning messages circling on internet space warn parents about a Blue Whale Challenge Dare Game that is allegedly inflicting Suicidal deaths in many teenagers on social media across the world. So, let us analyze the facts in detail and find out how far the claims are true.

About Blue Whale Dare Game and Teenager Deaths

The scary social “game” Blue Whale Challenge allegedly targets preteens and teens around the world, encouraging them to engage in acts of self-harm and ultimately dare to commit suicide. Players are assigned a master/’curator’ who controls them for 50 days giving simple tasks in the beginning. They include watching horror movies or waking up at odd times, and gradually inflicting self harm before ‘brainwashing’ the teens into committing suicides. There are some actual shocking pictures of self-harm posted on social media sites. The death game is allegedly played through mobile app and also on various social media platforms, where admins reportedly operate through groups.

There are beliefs the Blue Whale Suicide Challenge on social media is also available in other similar names. The name of the original death game is reported to have originated from the way blue whales beach themselves on shore and die. Reports about the Blue Whale game and teenager suicide deaths originated in Russia and later in United States. Then some media reported it as widespread in other parts of world. Investigative newspaper in Russia, Novaya Gazeta reported about 130 suicides of children that took place from November 2015 to April 2016, almost all of whom were members of the same internet groups living in good, happy families. Some schools in United States have also warned parents about the Blue Whale Challenge. A similar warning came in the UK from Devon and Cornwall Police Force.

In India

The suicide of a Mumbai teenager Manpreet Sahans in India in late July 2017 was linked to the Blue Whale Challenge. The boy jumped from his seven-floor building’s terrace, and Mumbai Police said he was addicted to the dare game. Just before committing suicide, a photo was taken by the boy sitting on the terrace parapet – showing his legs. It carried a caption – “Soon the only thing you would be left with is a picture of me“. Moreover, in connection with the Blue Whale Challenge, a class 10 student from Midnapore district in West Bengal allegedly committed suicide by suffocating himself. In yet another related incident, a class VI student identified as Parth Singh from Maudaha village (Uttar Pradesh) was found hanging in his bedroom.

Man Behind Blue Whale Suicide Game

Philipp Budeikin, also known as Philipp Lis (Fox), is the 22-year-old Russian who was charged with organizing groups which “promoted suicide” between years 2013 and 2016. He was linked to at least 16 suicides in different parts of Russia. Reportedly, he was the mastermind of the shocking social media craze, Blue Whale Challenge. Philipp Budeikin confessed to two cases where his brainwashed victims were fortunately saved. In court Budeikin called the victims of the game as ‘biological waste’ and told police he was just ‘cleansing society’. For encouraging young people to kill themselves, a Siberian court sentenced Philipp Budeikin to three years in prison. Budeikin stated his mother and older brother hit him while he was growing up, adding he is bipolar. He studied sound engineering and psychology for three years until he was expelled.