‘Blue Whale Challenge’: A Game or Crime?

Abstract

A bewildering range of games are emerging every other day with newer elements of fun and entertainment to woo youngsters. Games are meant to reduce stress and enhance the cognitive development of children as well as adults. Teenagers are always curious to indulge in newer games; and e-gaming is one such platform providing an easy access and quicker means of entertainment. The particular game challenge which has taken the world by storm is the dangerous "Blue Whale Challenge" often involving vulnerable teenagers. The Blue Whale Challenge is neither an application nor internet based game but the users get a link through social media chat groups to enter this "deadly" challenge game. This probably is the only game where the participant has to end his/her life to complete the game. The innocent teenagers are being targeted based on their depressed psychology and are coercively isolated from their social milieux on the pretext of keeping the challenges confidential. To add to the woes, no option is offered to quit the challenge even if the contender is unable to complete the challenge. Blue Whale Challenge in its sheer form could be seen as an illegal, unethical and inhumane endeavor in our present society. The present communication discusses the severe effects of the game on teenagers, the ethical concerns involved and the preventive measures necessary to curb it.

The “Blue Whale Challenge”?: The first report on a consultation from a health care setting for carrying out “tasks” accessed through a mobile phone application

“…There are media reports on multiple suicides that have been attributed to it. Additionally, the other stages also involve exposure to hazardous situations (Desk, ; Mukhra, Baryah, Krishan, & Kanchan, ; Poullomi, ).…”

“…In spite of being widely mentioned in the media, there are no reports on such cases in medical literature (Desk, ; Mukhra et al, ; Poullomi, ). Advisories have been issued for parents, students, and school authorities on this.…”

Imitation as a model-free process in human reinforcement learning

“…The global adoption of social media has exacerbated the propagation of different kinds of behaviours, spanning from anodyne memes and lifestyle habits, to more political (37) and economic (38) behaviours. These massive cascade effects can have deleterious impacts, such as political polarization (39), diffusion of fake news (40), and even more macabre trends caused by the propagation of dangerous behaviours (41). Understanding the mechanisms underpinning social influence is therefore crucial for understanding and preventing these negative effects.…”

Restrictions of Russian Internet Resources in Ukraine: National Security, Censorship or Both?

“…These and other arguments have been listed in the unsuccessful lawsuit of a Kyiv student to the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine (2017), and the online petition to the President to lift the ban on VKontakte, which gathered over 25,000 votes. In response to the request, the President replied with describing the social network as a refuge for Russian-sponsored disinformation campaigns, pirate content and communities inciting teen suicides ("Blue Whales"), which sounds unpersuasive especially considering the fact that the latter are no more than a fresh urban legend, hyped on a wave of moral panic (Mukhra et al, 2017;Napiorkowski, 2017). Another reason given was cutting the economic benefit that Russian companies receive through online advertising in Ukraine, but even the approximate numbers of the profits lost both by the Moscowbased websites and Ukrainians who used to advertise their goods and services on these platforms have not been revealed.…”