Summary The 'Blue Whale Challenge' game has been blamed for over 100 child suicides globally. Photo: istock
(Web Desk) - An online game called the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ has caused widespread concern and scare among parents in India, with reports linking it to more than six teenage suicides over the past few weeks.
The online game has been blamed for over 100 child suicides across the world.
The challenge – that is not actually a video game or an app, is a set of instructions that are shared with vulnerable children and teens online.
Philipp Budeikin, 21, from Russia, says he was cleansing society when he invented the ‘game’ . Photo: Vkontakte / east2west
According to NDTV India, many states across the country have warned parents about the deadly game and the government is trying to figure out if it can be removed from the web.
Bansal, aunt of a first grade student who had downloaded the app in her parent’s phone, wrote in a Facebook post, “Keep your devices locked and away from kids. Imagine that the deadly game is been discussed by kids of 1st class and suggested by kids of 4th class. Please find out a way to talk to kids or may be use what I did by telling my niece that the game was haunted, after I deleted it. Please take care of your small ones”.
Recently, a tenth grade student in Sambalpur was found hanging from a fan in her room. The girl died at the hospital later.
Though the local police was probing the cause of the girl s death, her parents linked the death to Blue Whale Challenge .
Realising how close to home the threat was after her students were rumored to be playing the deadly game, Iris Theodore, the principal of Hindustan International School Delhi in a letter to the parents of the children said, “I don t want you to panic but to understand and be aware of what is happening. This way you can monitor the child s behaviour at home”.
Photo: Getty images
Theodore added that the school also received a circular from the CBSE this month cautioning them about the use of internet in schools, buses and classrooms. The circular to schools suggests taking cyber security measures like installing effective firewalls, making children use the internet in visible areas of the school, educating teachers on internet safety norms and allowing children to access only pre-selected websites.
Magdalene Jeyarathnam, director of the East-West Center for Counselling and Training, said after she was called in by a few city schools for their counseling on cyber threats, she downloaded the app to understand it better.
“It s frightening that access to the game is as simple as a couple of clicks. Every challenge encourages the child to meet strangers at certain places to set them off on their next task. I ve suggested to parents that if their child is addicted to online gaming, the first step is to cut off access to the internet”, she said.
While psychologists have advised the parents to spend more time with their children, and get them interested in off-line activities, the police department has become active in its efforts of trying and putting an end to the cyber threat.
"You are requested to take steps to ensure that such links of the deadly game in its own name or any similar game is immediately removed from the social media platform, "Odisha Director General Police KB Singh said in an official note to senior officers, reported NDTV.
In his directive, DGP Singh told all SPs in the state to keep a watch on various social media outlets and ensure that the suicide challenge was not available to the users in the state. He also said that this order should be carried out with immediate effect taking into account the urgency of the issue.
