Behind Mumbai teen's suicide could be Blue Whale Challenge, a deadly internet game
Trigger warning: This article contains photos of self-harm.
A 14-year-old boy from Mumbai’s Andheri (East) committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of his seven-floor building on July 29. The boy, who was a Class 9 student in an international school, was spotted by a neighbour walking on the parapet while shooting what looked like a selfie video. The boy then jumped off and killed himself.
While the Meghwadi police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) and are probing further to find the reason behind the suicide, according to this report, Mumbai Police officals say that the boy is believed to have been addicted to an online game known as “Blue Whale” - a challenge-based underground game that brainwashes people into committing suicide.
Senior police officials said they have not found anything in the boy’s mobile phone and his parents are unaware of anything like that. However, the boy’s friends on certain WhatsApp groups chatted about his death being linked to the suicide challenge.
Police officers, however, refused to confirm whether the suicide was linked to Blue Whale. DCP Navinchandra Reddy said, "The parents have not given any information on the reason of suicide, they are in state of shock. We are investigating the case in all possible angles [sic]."
“A team has been sent to the school to talk to the child’s friends, and to understand what possibly led to the unfortunate event,” said Pandurang Patil, senior police inspector of Meghwadi police station.
What is Blue Whale?
The Blue Whale Challenge is a game, believed to have originated in Russia, that incites teenagers into committing suicide through a series of tasks and quests.
According to a report on Heavy, the challenge began by way of a YouTube video in which an anonymous instructor begins giving assignments. In total, there are 50 assignments that become increasingly more serious over time. The tasks include things like self-harm and when the participant reaches the 50th task, they are told to kill themselves.
According to an investigative piece by Novaya Gazeta in May 2016, “death groups” have existed on VKontakte (a Russian social media site that is more popular than Facebook in the country), that incited teens into committing suicide. According to the report, there were about 130 reported adolescent suicides in Russia between November 2015 and April 2016, and a majority of these children who took their lives were part of the same social media death groups.
What are the tasks?
Over a course of 50 days, the game’s moderator reaches out to kids via various social media channels like Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube, instant messages etc, and guides them through the tasks. According to a report, there was also a version of the Blue Whale Challenge available for download on Google Play Store, though it was later removed - the app, however, keeps popping up on different channels with different names.
The anonymous administrator assigns kids various “self-harm” tasks that are innocuous in the beginning like watching a scary movie, but slowly grows increasingly dangerous like cutting oneself. On the 50th day, the participant is supposed to commit suicide.
Every task is supposed to be documented by the player and sent to the moderator or administrator, who is also known as the “whale”. A Reddit thread lists the alleged tasks:
1) Carve a specific phrase on the person’s own hand or arm.
2) Wake up at 4:20am and watch a scary video (sent by the curator).
3) Make lengthwise cuts on the person’s own arm.
4) Draw a whale on a piece of paper
5) Write “yes” on the person’s own leg if ready to be a whale. Otherwise, they should cut themselves multiple times.
6) Secret task (written in code.)
7) Scratch (a message) on the person’s own arm.
8) Write a status online about being a whale.
9) Overcome a fear.
10) Get up at 4:20am and go to the roof.
11) Carve a whale on the person’s own hand.
12) Watch scary videos all day.
13) Listen to music the “curator” sends.
14) Cut your lip.
15) Poke the person’s own arm/hand with a needle.
16) Make yourself hurt or sick.
17) Go to a roof and stand on the edge.
18) Stand on a bridge.
19) Climb a crane.
20) At this step, the “curator” somehow checks to see if the participant is trustworthy.
21) Talk with a “whale” on Skype.
22) Sit down on a roof with legs dangling over the edge.
23) Another job that is in code.
24) A secret mission.
25) Meet with a “whale.”
26) The “curator” assigns a date that the person will die.
27) Visit a railroad.
28) Do not talk with anyone all day.
29) Give an oath/vow about being a whale.
After these steps, steps 30-49 involve watching horror movies and listening to music that the curator picks, talking to a whale, and making cuts.
The last task is jumping off a building.
Online suicide cults
Death-pacts and suicide cults are not new. They have existed before the age of the internet, but have grown a lot more, thanks to social media. There have been several notorious incidents all over the world. From alien related beliefs to religious practices, to the occult, suicide pacts and cults have been a subculture all around. These groups prey on the often emotionally marginalised and insecure, and brainwash them into their bidding.
According a study of cults on Psychology Today, cults use methods of "indoctrination" and "mind-control" no different from all groups, though they may be a lot more intensely applied. These "wicked" techniques are in fact well-known; demanding total, consistent compliance and conformity; using heavy persuasive techniques; creating dissonance; emotional manipulation. They differ only in intensity and duration… and thus in effectiveness.
This “game”, according to PsychCntral report, is most likely the creation of someone who is a psychopath or sociopath, or has significant tendencies of psychopathy, and it not so much a game as it is a “control and manipulation scheme directed toward vulnerable people who have serious thoughts of suicide, loneliness, and death.”
The creator of the game taps into the emotional vulnerability and, through the tasks, attains total control over their minds. The true test of the creator’s control is to make them take the ultimate test – killing themselves.
The man allegedly behind this sick manipulative cult was caught in May according to various reports.
Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old Russian man who has confessed to inciting suicides, says his victims were just “biological waste” and told police that they were “happy to die” and that he was “cleansing society”. But his arrest has not stopped the phenomenon; the Mumbai incident, if it is linked to the Blue Whale Challenge, is proof of that.
Prevention
There are ways to figure out if someone is playing the game. Signs include self-harm and behaviour that is similar to that of the alleged tasks. It is up to all of us to recognise the signs in time and help those who are caught up in this manipulative cult. The game’s intention can be defeated by talking to those who may be on the verge of suicide.
A Reddit user, in a bid to prevent the game from succeeding, came up with a set of “anti-challenges” designed to boost your self-esteem.
Suicidal and masochistic tendencies should be dealt with care and caution. A lot of teens who exhibit such symptoms, need but just for the rest to reach out to them. The critically acclaimed Netflix series 13 Reasons Why illustrates just how important this is. Boost in one’s self confidence can be crucial.
(List of suicide help lines across India.)