The Blue Whale Challenge, also called the Blue Whale, is a social media event that began in Russia in 2013. It is said to exist in several countries. The "game" involves players receiving tasks from administrators over 50 days. At first, the tasks are harmless, but later they include self-harm, and the final task requires the player to harm themselves.
In May 2016, a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported that some child suicides in Russia were linked to a group called "F57" on the VK social network. This caused widespread fear in Russia. However, the report was criticized for suggesting a connection between the group and the suicides that was not proven. No suicides were confirmed to be related to the game. Similar claims have been made worldwide, but none have been verified.
The game has been banned in some countries, including Egypt, Kenya, and Pakistan. However, experts note that because the game is not tied to a specific website or app, it may be very difficult or impossible to completely stop.
Background
In November 2015, Renata Kambolina, a teenager from Russia, posted a selfie online with the message "nya.bye" before taking her own life. After her death, people on the internet began discussing her story, mixing it with other frightening stories and myths. These stories later included reports of other teenagers who also died by suicide. In April 2016, Russian journalist Galina Mursaliyeva wrote an article for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta about these "death groups." She described online groups called "F57" on the Russian social media site VK, which she claimed had led 130 teenagers to commit suicide. However, her article was criticized for not providing enough proof or balanced information, especially the number 130, which was based on a parent named Sergey Pestov. Pestov used Russian media reports to find cases of child suicides he believed were connected to online groups. He later created a brochure that suggested foreign intelligence agents were involved. After an investigation by journalist Evgeny Berg for Meduza, Mursaliyeva later said that at least 200 suicides had occurred.
The name "Blue Whale" is unclear. Some sources say it comes from a song by the Russian rock band Lumen, which includes the lines "Why scream / When no one hears / What we're talking about?" and mentions a "huge blue whale" that "can't break through the net." Others believe the name refers to "beaching," a process where whales become stranded on beaches and die.
The game is reported to appear on various social media platforms. It involves a relationship between an administrator and a participant. Over 50 days, the administrator gives one task each day. At first, the tasks seem harmless, such as "get up at 4:30 a.m." or "watch a horror movie." Later, the tasks become more harmful, eventually leading the participant to take their own life on the final day. A professor from the Russian State University for the Humanities, Alexandra Arkhipova, found that the administrators were usually children aged 12 to 14, drawn to the story because it became widely reported. This contradicted claims that adults were involved.
Social concerns
Experts believe the Blue Whale challenge may have started as a made-up story that was exaggerated. However, it is likely that the idea led to copycat behavior, where people imitate harmful actions, including self-harm or suicide. Studies show that these effects can spread through media discussions, even when people talk about the dangers. As the challenge spread online, certain words became more common, making the idea seem normal. It is also thought that the challenge inspired copycat groups, putting children at risk of cyberbullying and online shaming.
By late 2017, reports of people participating in Blue Whale decreased. Internet safety groups worldwide began offering advice to parents and teachers about suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and online safety to prepare for similar challenges in the future.
Dr. Achal Bhagat, a psychiatrist in Delhi, explained that some children may have joined the challenge because they wanted to explain their own experiences, even though there was no proof the game existed.
American researcher Ben Radford compared Blue Whale to past moral panics, such as those about video games in the 1980s. He said that stories like this often spread quickly online and that the best way to handle them is to stay skeptical. A podcast called Squaring the Strange shared his analysis about the dangers these stories pose for parents.
Studies have reclassified online suicide games like Blue Whale as a form of cyberbullying. Even though victims start the game on their own, it includes harmful elements like manipulation, pressure, and coercion. Many children who played the game were struggling in school, with poor grades or frequent absences. This suggests schools need to provide support to prevent mental health issues that may lead students to seek out such challenges.
Authorities in Russia and other countries, including Armenia, Brazil, France, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, have issued warnings about the game.
Arrests
In 2016, Philipp Budeikin, a 21-year-old former psychology student who was removed from his university, said he created the game in 2013. He claimed the game’s goal was to "clean society of biological wastes," meaning he wanted to remove people he believed had no value and were seen as burdens. At first, Budeikin said he was not responsible and claimed he was "just having fun." However, he was arrested and held in Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg. In May 2016, he admitted to encouraging at least 16 teenage girls to commit suicide. He was later found guilty of inciting suicide in two minors. Experts like Benjamin Radford noted that many news stories about Budeikin’s involvement came from only two Russian sources, and other news outlets repeated the same details without adding more information.
In June 2017, a postman named Ilya Sidorov was arrested in Moscow. He was accused of creating a Blue Whale group to persuade children to harm themselves and eventually take their own lives. Sidorov claimed he convinced 32 children to join his group and follow his instructions.
In June 2018, a Russian financial analyst named Nikita Nearonov was arrested for allegedly organizing the Blue Whale game. Nearonov is believed to have targeted 10 underage girls to lead them toward suicide. Two of these girls, aged 14 and 17, survived. As a financial analyst, Nearonov was described as a computer expert who had strong negative feelings toward teenagers, calling them "wicked" and saying they "deserved to die." Police reports stated that Nearonov’s involvement in the Blue Whale game was his "hobby."
Alleged incidents
According to news reports, the cause of death of 15-year-old Hrachya Nersisyan, who died by suicide, was linked to the game "Blue Whale." According to the leader of the department for the Protection of Minors' Rights and Combating Domestic Violence of the Armenian Police, Nelly Duryan, the Armenian part of the Internet is filled with messages about this "game," but no final conclusions have been made about it yet.
Although no reports of suicides in Australia have been connected to the game, an investigation by an Australian journalist on Kidspot reportedly confirmed the existence of the game.
Despite many news reports in Bangladeshi media attempting to link suicides with the game, no case has been officially confirmed.
In October 2017, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan stated that the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has been directed to investigate the Blue Whale game after reports of suicide around the country. BTRC released a notice urging people to call a specific number if any web link or information related to the Blue Whale game were found. Later that month, the Bangladeshi High Court ordered a six-month ban on special night-time internet packages provided by mobile operators across the country.
Despite several news reports in Brazilian media linking cases of child self-harm and suicide with Blue Whale and several ongoing investigations, none have been officially confirmed.
In response to the game, a designer and a publicity agent from São Paulo created a movement called Baleia Rosa (Pink Whale), which became popular. It relied on the help of hundreds of volunteers. The movement focused on positive tasks that value life and combat depression. Another movement, the Capivara Amarela (Yellow Capybara), was created by Sandro Sanfelice, and proposed to "combat the Blue Whale game" and guide people seeking help. Participants were divided into either challengers, who needed guidance, or healers, who supported the challengers. An Adventist school in southern Paraná, in partnership with other education networks, also sought to reverse the situation by proposing another charity game called the "Jonas Challenge" (named after the biblical character Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale and vomited up three days later). Other games created in Brazil in response to the Blue Whale were the Baleia Verde (Green Whale) and the Preguiça Azul (Blue Sloth).
In Belo Horizonte and Recife metropolitan areas in Brazil, many schools promoted lectures to talk about the Blue Whale game. On May 21, 2017, it was announced that the Brazilian police specializing in High Technology Crime Repression in Piauí were preparing a digital primer to warn young people about the dangers of the game.
The first media reports of the game in Bulgaria appeared in mid-February 2017. However, the game was dismissed as a hoax by the Georgi Apostolov Centre.
The first alleged case of the game in Chile was reported in April 2017 in Antofagasta, after a 12-year-old girl was seen with 15 cuts on her arm, which formed a "whale."
In May 2017, Tencent, China's largest Internet service portal, closed 12 suspicious Blue Whale-related network groups on its social networking platform QQ. It said that the number of such groups is increasing. The search results of related keywords were also blocked.
In April 2018, Egyptian news sources claimed a 12-year-old schoolboy had killed himself by taking poisonous tablets to fulfill one of the challenges of the game. According to the media, the schoolboy was found with a scar in the shape of a blue whale on his right arm. In reaction to the growing media awareness of the game, Egypt's Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah uploaded a video on their YouTube channel claiming that the game is forbidden in Islam and warning against it. As of 2025, about 26 suicides in Egypt have been associated with the Blue Whale challenge, though the actual number is said to be higher.
In 2017, a 13-year-old girl from Radevormwald, North Rhine-Westphalia, was reported to have scratched a blue whale on her arm as part of the game. The game was allegedly found on her phone.
Throughout 2017, media in India reported several cases of child suicide, self-harm, and attempted suicide alleged to be a result of Blue Whale. In response, the Indian government's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology requested that several internet companies (including Google, Facebook, and Yahoo!) remove all links that direct users to the game. Some commentators accused the government of creating a moral panic. The Indian internet watchdog, Centre for Internet and Society, accused the coverage of effectively spreading and advertising a "game" for which there is little evidence. The Supreme Court asked the Indian Central government to ban the game, following which the government responded that since Blue Whale wasn't an application, it couldn't be banned. For a period of time, several internet providers blocked Russian social network VKontakte over concerns about the "game" believed to originate on this Russian social network.
In January 2018, the government reported there was no evidence that any death was a result of the challenge, stating, "The committee analyzed the internet activities, device activities, call records, and other social media activity, other forensic evidence, and also interacted with rescued victims associated with these incidents. Involvement of the Blue Whale challenge game in any of these incidents could not be established." In June 2023, the government informed the Supreme Court that it is not possible to block the Blue Whale challenge.
In September 2017, the Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology posted a message in his official Instagram account to warn parents and teachers about the spread of the Blue Whale challenge among Iranian teens.
In Italy, press coverage of Blue Whale first appeared on June 3, 2016, in the newspaper La Stampa, which described the challenge as "a bad joke." The debunking site BUTAC reported the total lack of evidence to affirm the game's existence. On May 14, 2017, a TV report by Le Iene about 'Blue Whale' on the national channel Italia 1 linked the challenge to an unconnected suicide in Livorno. The report showed several suicide scenes, mostly from videos on LiveLeak depicting adults unrelated to the challenge. It incorrectly described the footage as evidence of teenagers playing the game. The report interviewed a schoolmate of the Livorno teenager, two mothers of Russian girls who supposedly took part in the game, and the founder of the Russian Center for the safety of children from internet crimes. Following the report, coverage of the challenge in the Italian media increased, with many outlets describing it as real. There was a sharp rise in Google searches for the challenge, and some panic.
On May 15th and 16
In popular culture
Many movies and TV shows have used the Blue Whale Challenge in their stories, including: