The Blue Whale Challenge is a social media challenge that encourages teens and tweens to perform specific tasks, over the course of 50 days, that are assigned to them by an anonymous “group administrator.” The tasks escalate throughout the 50 days and on the last day of the challenge the only way to “win” is to die by suicide.
The only way to “win” the Blue Whale Challenge is to die by suicide.
Some people say that the Blue Whale Challenge might be an urban legend but many parents and educators are concerned about this social media challenge that is gaining attention online
Many of the tasks include acts of self-harm, like urging players to cut themselves in the shape of a whale
Players join the Blue Whale Challenge by posting certain hashtags or joining specific groups on social media, in the hopes of getting selected by a “group administrator”
Targeted at 10-14 year olds, players are required to send photo evidence to their “group administrator” to prove that they have completed each specific task
Blue Whale Challenge in the news
Blue Whale, with its exploitation of self-pity and teenage posturing, will keep marching around the world. –Bloomberg
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Police are issuing grave warnings over the “Blue Whale” suicide game that began targeting teens in Russia and may now be finding its way around the globe. –Yahoo News
Why should parents care?
The Blue Whale Challenge creates new opportunities for predators to target victims on social media.
The challenge as a whole is meant to harm students and slowly gets them to trust the game
The Blue Whale Challenge creates new opportunities for predators to target victims on social media
Players of the challenge can’t stop playing once they’ve started; they are blackmailed and cyber bullied into completing the “game”
“Group administrators” are typically adults and older teens
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What can parents do?
Get involved, have a healthy dialog with your students about their day and social media.
Get involved, have a healthy dialog with your students about their day and social media
Pay attention to any changes in your teen’s behavior, especially if they become reserved, withdrawn, or fearful of social media
Consider contacting your teen’s school. If your child has engaged with anything like the Blue Whale Challenge, other students might be engaging with it too
Urge your child to report any misbehavior they encounter online and on social media
Teach your teen to keep private things private, especially on the internet. If they are struggling, encourage your child to confide in you, a family member, or a trusted adult
Remember that “loving” your child means taking actions that may make your child not “like” you at times
It’s okay to take your child’s phone, search through it and make sure they are interacting with people you know (and in a way that’s healthy)
A Reddit user posted a completed list of tasks which were supposedly posted in a comment on a story about the game on a Russian news website. The list of 50 challenges has been translated from Russian.
1. Carve with a razor “f57” on your hand, send a photo to the curator.
2. Wake up at 4.20 a.m. and watch psychedelic and scary videos that curator sends you.
3. Cut your arm with a razor along your veins, but not too deep, only 3 cuts, send a photo to the curator.
4. Draw a whale on a sheet of paper, send a photo to curator.
5. If you are ready to “become a whale”, carve “YES” on your leg. If not, cut yourself many times (punish yourself).
6. Task with a cipher.
7. Carve “f40” on your hand, send a photo to curator.
8. Type “#i_am_whale” in your VKontakte status.
9. You have to overcome your fear.
10. Wake up at 4:20 a.m. and go to a roof (the higher the better)
11. Carve a whale on your hand with a razor, send a photo to curator.
12. Watch psychedelic and horror videos all day.
13. Listen to music that “they” (curators) send you.
14. Cut your lip.
15. Poke your hand with a needle many times
16. Do something painful to yourself, make yourself sick.
17. Go to the highest roof you can find, stand on the edge for some time.
18. Go to a bridge, stand on the edge.
19. Climb up a crane or at least try to do it
20. The curator checks if you are trustworthy.
21. Have a talk “with a whale” (with another player like you or with a curator) in Skype.
22. Go to a roof and sit on the edge with your legs dangling.
23. Another task with a cipher.
24. Secret task.
25. Have a meeting with a “whale.”
26. The curator tells you the date of your death and you have to accept it.
27. Wake up at 4:20 a.m. and go to rails (visit any railroad that you can find).
28. Don’t talk to anyone all day.
29. Make a vow that “you’re a whale.”
30-49. Everyday you wake up at 4:20am, watch horror videos, listen to music that “they” send you, make 1 cut on your body per day, talk “to a whale.”
50. Jump off a high building. Take your life.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Anoymynoussays
This is very scary, also sometimes it is an app with a virus that softlocs them into BW with risk of there info being linked.
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[…] say ‘don’t you dare’ to me when someone mentioned the Blue Whale Challenge (https://smartsocial.com/blue-whale-challenge/) and if anyone talked about suicide to me, or even near me, he would glance over, or stand […]
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We train 30,000 students each year how to shine online using social media and we show them how their accounts can be used to create a portfolio of positive accomplishments that impress colleges and employers.
This is very scary, also sometimes it is an app with a virus that softlocs them into BW with risk of there info being linked.