Blue Whale :--
The Blue Whale Game also "Blue Whale Challenge", is an Internet "game" that is claimed to exist in several countries. The game allegedly consists of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators during a 50-day period, with the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. The term "Blue Whale" comes from the phenomenon of beached whales, which is linked to suicide.
Blue Whale began in Russia in 2013 with "F57", one of the names of the so-called "death group" of the VKontakte social network, and allegedly caused its first suicide in 2015. Philipp Budeikin, a former psychology student who was expelled from his university, claimed that he invented the game.
What is the Blue Whale Challenge?
The Blue Whale game or Blue Whale Challenge is believed to be a suicide game wherein a group of administrators or a certain curator gives a participant a task to complete daily - for a period of 50 days - the final of which is the participant committing suicide. These daily tasks start off easy - such as listening to certain genres of music, waking up at odd hours, watching a horror movie, among others, and then slowly escalate to carving out shapes on one's skin, self-mutilation and eventually suicide. While some say the user has to install some app on their smart phone, others say it's via social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook where the administrators get in touch with the participant after those interested throw out postings on social media asking for a "curator". It must be noted, however, that there still is no confirmation of the existence of the game, and suicides linked to it are from personal accounts of families/friends of those deceased who claim they have seen their loved ones performing tasks. While reports of suicides linked to the game have surfaced across the globe, authorities claim that the origin appears to be in Russia, which has reportedly seen about 130 related deaths and at least two arrests.
Blue Whale Game Facts
Fact #1. The term “Blue Whale” is derived from the phenomenon of beached whales, which is related to suicide.
Fact #2. The game is reported to have started in Russia in 2013. The “F57” was one of the first names of the “death group” of the VKontakte social network. It has now spread in several countries.
Fact #3. It's not a downloadable software or app. It's primarily a social media phenomenon that enters social media networks from secret groups. Some of the examples of the social media phenomenon are ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the Harlem Shake.
Fact #4. It assigns 50 tasks to players during a 50-day period. The player has to take photos while undertaking the challenge and upload them as proofs for the curator's approval.
Fact #5. The final challenge compels the player to commit suicide. All the assigned task is tracked by a curator. The tasks include watching horror movies and inflicting self-harm.
Fact #6. It allegedly caused its first suicide in 2015. Philipp Budeikin, a former psychology student is claimed to have invented this game.
Fact #7. He said that the main purpose of his creating the game was to “clean” the society by forcing people, who have no value, to commit suicide.
Fact #8. In Russia in 2016, Blue Whale became a huge craze among teenagers. It caused many unrelated suicides in the country. As per reports, more than 100 teenagers have allegedly committed suicide to complete the challenge.
Can you Download This Game ?
It’s not an app that you can download from playstore or Appstore. Though there are numerous apps on playstore with similar names, they are all bullshit and have nothing to do with actual challenge.
It’s not a game you can download from web or play online. It don’t have a website that you can go to in your browser to be part of it.
Having cleared above misconceptions, it must be understood that it is still dangerous for young teens. Blue Whale is actually a phenomenon, which was initially started by a Russian guy called Philipp Budeikin during 2013, who is serving jail for it. It’s a part of the dark web and vulnerable teens with low self-esteem who often explore dark web falls prey to it. Those sick and psychos from around the world are always on search for manipulating such teens.
It all starts with teens exploring dark web and often talking with strangers. The dark web access often starts with Tor Browser. Dark web is a part of web which is not indexed(Though not all unindexed falls in dark web). It’s an encrypted network that exists between tor and it’s clients. Young teens often explore sites using the Tor Hidden Service Protocol as a part of curiosity. It works over regular Tor (anonymity network), but instead of having your traffic routed from your computer and through an onion-like layer of servers, it stays within the Tor network. You won't know exactly what system you're accessing unless they tell you, and they won't know who you are unless they do - or unless one of you is careless.
These psychos often reveal private information from these vulnerable kids like their fears, dreams etc and later use them to manipulate those teens. They are given challenges. Completing these challenges is akin to playing the game. The self harm, including suicide, are some of the challenges that need to be completed.
Initially they would ask them to watch gory and depressing content online. Then some people are selected who are considered weak enough to be manipulated. The administrators of the game assign daily tasks to these selected players, which they must complete over 50 days. The game begins with fairly basic tasks, but continually increases in magnitude to tasks such as cutting one's veins, killing an animal and finally suicide. Each task also needs to be photographed or videotaped, so the administrators have proof of completion and authenticity, including the final suicide. It’s a malicious trap for these kids.
The game got its name from one of the first disturbing challenges of the game, where players were asked to draw a blue whale on a piece of paper, and then told to carve the whale onto their body.
Given the fact that Blue Whale is not an app, or a game, or a computer virus, you can't tell your kids or friends to not install it or not play it. You can't filter it using an anti-virus. All you can do is tell your friends and kids to avoid it. There is an adage for the real world: "Don't talk to strangers". It applies on the virtual world too. You should tell your kids not to talk to strangers on the web, or on social media sites. Kids must also be taught to never reveal private information, your fears, your dreams, your vulnerabilities etc on the web.
