‘Wake me up at 4:20 in the morning.’ ‘Cut a blue whale on your arm using a knife.’ ‘Watching a horror movie at midnight alone.’…… Around 2016, those scary yet confusing sentences went viral on the Internet. Turning out, they were from an online game called ‘the Blue Whale Challenge’, whose ultimate goal is to request one to commit suicide; it originated in Russia and quickly spread on the web. (BBC News, “Blue Whale: Should you be worried about online pressure groups?”) Subsequently, a moral panic rapidly spread among young people and parents. Later on, the Blue Whale Challenge was considered an urban tale due to the lack of reliable sources from which the first article reported it. However, the attention the public paid to teenagers’ mental health due to this incident is worthy of being discussed.

The beginning of everything was an article by Galina Mursalieva in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, released on May 16th, 2016. This article titled Death Groups 18+ (Группы смерти) was opened by ‘We counted 130 (!) suicides of children that happened in Russia from November 2015 to April 2016 – almost all of them were members of the same groups on the Internet.’. In the following content, the author claimed that the ‘F57’ groups on the Russian social media site VK had caused 130 teenagers to commit suicide, followed by the specific cases of the victims and the interviews of their family members (Газета, ‘Группы смерти (18+) [The Death Groups (18+)]’). This soon resulted in a wider media report and ultimately caused a moral panic among teenagers and parents. The series of social media groups and the tasks were coined with the term, ‘The Blue Whale Game’. Later on, it even reached other countries. The police force began to intervene to stop teenagers from joining the game (NZ Herald, ‘Blue Whale Challenge: NZ police warn parents over’ suicide game’ behind the death of hundreds of teens overseas.’). It was said that a massive wave of teenage suicide began around the world.

However, shortly before Mursalieva drew people’s attention to the ‘suicide game’, the report’s validity and reliability were questioned extensively. The first piece of evidence journalists revealed was that there was no clear and reliable evidence proving that teenagers, especially the 130 teenagers on the report, committed suicide due to the Blue Whale Challenge. No clear and reliable source was cited in the article on Novaya Gazeta. In 2017, Fiona Gartland, a journalist from The Irish Times, interviewed criminologist Sameer Hinduja, who revealed that there was no existing and reliable research pointing out that teenagers commit suicide merely due to the games and groups on social media. (Gartland, “No proven link between Blue Whale game and suicides, says expert.”)

In addition to Hinduja’s statements, some extensive research suggested that teenager suicide has always been a problem which may be attributed to other factors (such as subcultures), and the Blue Whale Challenge assumed the responsibility as it had been disseminated widely and amplified teenagers’ fear towards adolescence and death. In an interview regarding the Blue Whale Challenge, anthropologist Dmitry Gromov, who is a faculty member of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Science, pointed out that those suicidal groups may incite some teenagers to risk their lives to some extent, but ‘family conflicts, conflicts at school, fear of the future, fear of punishment’ are the further reasons (Rbth and Levkovich, “Deadly online game ‘killing’ Russian youths reaches Europe”).

More importantly, the motivations of the individual who launched the Blue Whale Game were also confusing. The Russian police ultimately charged Philipp Budeikin, who is the so-called founder of the Blue Whale Challenge. This 21-year-old Russian teenager claimed that the objective of creating the challenge was to clean the ‘biowaste’ and give them ‘something they did not have in real life: warmth, understanding, connection.’ (Грачев, ”Администратор «групп смерти». Чистосердечное признание [Administrator of ‘death groups’. A heartfelt confession]”). However, Budeikin’s friends told the press that his actions were initially used to attract fans online and promote his music (Adeane, “Blue Whale: What is the truth behind an online’ suicide challenge’?”). Hence, it is arguable that Budeikin’s initial attempt was only to shock the netizens and gain more followers. However, the out-of-control situation soon led to the later large-scale imitation and media report on Novaya Gazeta.

In conclusion, Galina Mursalieva’s article may be exaggerated and unreliable to some extent, and we can still not determine the actual number of teenagers who killed themselves due to the Blue Whale Challenge, which we hope will be an urban tale. However, the mental health issues of the new generation were worthy of discussing. As a result of the Blue Whale incident, a number of parents have become caring about their children’s Internet use and mental development and are trying to shift more of the latter’s time to real life and spending more time with them – which is probably for the best.

Works Cited

Adeane, By Ant. Blue Whale: What is the truth behind an online “suicide challenge”? 13 Jan. 2019, http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46505722.

BBC News. “Blue Whale: Should you be worried about online pressure groups?” BBC News, 27 Apr. 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-39729819.

Gartland, Fiona. “No proven link between Blue Whale game and suicides, says expert.” The Irish Times, 16 May 2017, http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/no-proven-link-between-blue-whale-game-and-suicides-says-expert-1.3084251.

NZ Herald. “Blue Whale Challenge: NZ police warn parents over ‘suicide game’ behind death of hundreds of teens overseas.” NZ Herald, 22 Sept. 2020, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/blue-whale-challenge-nz-police-warn-parents-over-suicide-game-behind-death-of-hundreds-of-teens-overseas/TJE5SHPKQEYRVE4DJ7VE4W3AF4. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.

Rbth, and Yevgeny Levkovich. “Deadly online game ‘killing’ Russian youths reaches Europe.” Russia Beyond, 1 Dec. 2024, http://www.rbth.com/politics_and_society/2017/04/10/deadly-online-game-killing-russian-youths-reaches-europe_738992.

Газета, Новая. “Группы смерти (18+) [The Death Groups (18+)].” Новая Газета, 16 May 2016, novayagazeta.ru/articles/2016/05/16/68604-gruppy-smerti-18.

Грачев, Михаил. “Администратор «групп смерти». Чистосердечное признание [Administrator of ‘death groups’. A heartfelt confession].” Санкт-Петербург.Ру, 15 Nov. 2016, saint-petersburg.ru/m/society/grachev/353694. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.