Blue Whale game, the Russian game of death

In short
In 2017 media around the world reported on Blue Whale, an alleged “game” born on Russian social networks that supposedly drove 130 teenagers to suicide. Philipp Budeikin, 22, was sentenced in July 2017 to 3 years and 4 months for inciting two girls, who survived. None of the deaths attributed to the game in Russia and Central Asia has ever been definitively linked to Blue Whale.

Lately everyone has been talking about this Blue Whale game. On the TV news you hear that this game has led 130 teenagers to their deaths by inciting them to suicide. But how much of this is true?

The Blue Whale Game

According to the TV news, which loves scaremongering, the Blue Whale game was born in Russia and has already caused the deaths of 130 teenagers. The game supposedly consists of a series of tasks set by a kind of “curator” over 50 days, up to the last and most terrible one: taking your own life.

The case that caused the biggest stir in Europe, and that started the alarm, was that of two Ukrainian girls aged 15 and 16 who died at the end of February 2017. According to the papers, they took their own lives because of the famous game. But, as the BBC reconstructed years later, nobody actually knew the true story behind those deaths.

Why is it called Blue Whale?

The Blue Whale game is said to have started on VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. The victim would be contacted by an administrator after joining certain closed groups, such as “Blue Whale” or “Silent House”. Some of the game’s hashtags were reportedly #SeaOfWhales, #BlueWhales, #WhalesSwimUpwards and #WakeMeUpAt420. The last refers to one of the tasks: waking up at 4:20 in the morning.

The name is said to come from the fact that whales sometimes beach themselves, behaviour some have interpreted as a kind of suicide.

From Russia with terror

From what we hear, the game came from Russia. However, the first news report about the Blue Whale game, dating from late January 2017, appeared in a newspaper in Kyrgyzstan, which described it as a virus spreading through schools. The figure of 130 victims, on the other hand, comes from a May 2016 article in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta about teenage suicides between November 2015 and April 2016 linked to certain social media groups.

After the news broke, many parents in both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan spoke out, accusing the media of blowing the story out of proportion and creating more chaos than the game itself.

Philipp Budeikin

In Russia, in November 2016, a young man named Philipp Budeikin was arrested, accused of being the creator of the game. Budeikin, a former psychology student, said he created it in 2013 under the name “f57”. At first he claimed to be innocent, then in May 2017 he pleaded guilty, going so far as to call his victims “biological waste”.

In July 2017 a court in the Tyumen region sentenced him to 3 years and 4 months in prison for inciting two girls aged 16 and 17 to suicide; fortunately both survived. A number far from the 130 victims the media talked about.

Blue Whale game, reality or panic?

Although there was talk of 130 deaths linked to the Russian game of death, according to Radio Free Europe not a single death in Russia or Central Asia has ever been definitively tied to Blue Whale. Researchers who have studied the phenomenon see it largely as a media panic, fuelled by the news coverage itself.

That doesn’t mean there were no adults ready to manipulate vulnerable young people, as Budeikin’s case shows. But the real danger, more than any “game”, is the loneliness of those who are suffering and can’t find anyone to talk to.

If you are going through a difficult time or having thoughts of harming yourself, you don’t have to face it alone: talk to someone you trust, or contact a helpline in your country (you can find one at findahelpline.com). In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

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